One of the main characteristics of TQM provides for a continuous improvement process, so the summative evaluation made it possible for the grant managers to review the summative evaluation, address the weakness identified by the summative evaluation team, and make additional changes in the grant implementation which corrected the identified weaknesses. Overall, the two-prong evaluation process was a superior method for ensuring integrity in the evaluation phases of the grant. A copy of the formative evaluation may be found in the appendix. Both are also available on the Internet version. The Malcolm Baldridge Award Criteria was used as a basis for the TQM standard scale against which stated objectives were measured by the summative team.
Approach refers to how the grant addressed the requirement given in the examination items.
Deployment refers to the extent to which the approaches are applied to all relevant work units and given in the responses to Examination Items. A copy of the quality scale may be found in the Appendix or Internet Ouline. The committee members felt that while rural and diverse populations were included overall, the literature search was not expansive enough to properly address these areas. Task IV resulted in the observation that while the literature included international, the environmental scan and benchmarking process appeared to come up short in this area because international models were not addressed in this step. Task V received a pass rating for all areas except rural and diverse populations.