And when a local realtor needed to restore the muddied man-made lakes on his golf courses, he worked with math students to determine a treatment plan and budget. Janet Peregoy, an NEA member who provides training and support for high school teachers interested in applying the Baldrige criteria, says the program engages kids by making them accountable for their own learning. Now I give them a deadline, and they do the rest. In chemistry, students might gather and analyze water samples from polluted local lakes and rivers and recommend solutions. In biology, they might try to crack a criminal case, examining blood types, DNA mock-ups, pedigrees, and karyotypes to determine which suspect was the actual criminal.
Students often receive help from local professionals.
When students created a floor design and developed the electrical circuitry for a hypothetical facility, they asked an electrician for feedback. They made adjustments accordingly and perfected the product. Dean, a 30-year veteran, says the program has altered her teaching style enormously. I used to be an authoritarian teacher. Now state leaders are adapting the Malcolm Baldrige National Criteria for Performance Excellence in schools across North Carolina, with the goal that every school district will be using this system by 2002.