The Real Celebration
Guest blogger, Dr. Dave Markward, talks about "the real celebration" of continuous improvement... Dave says "In looking around our district, I see evidence of improvement every day and in a variety of places." Read the rest of his reflection below.
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One of the realities of continuous improvement is that we are often so focused on getting better, we neglect to take a step back, take a deep breath, and celebrate what has actually changed over time. This is true of work from the classroom, to the bus garage, to the school cafeteria, to the Board Room…literally every aspect of the school system.
In looking around our district, I see evidence of improvement every day and in a variety of places. From action research teams making breakthroughs in their PDSA cycles to the needles on the dashboard moving in the right direction. I have seen strategic plans on pages emerge like flowers in the spring as departments and schools align their work with the strategic plan of the district. Individually, gains in departments and classrooms are notable. Collectively, they move entire organizations and the communities in which they reside to better places. These are all reasons to celebrate.
Last week, Jay and I were accompanied by our Board of Education President, Vice President, and Assistant to the Superintendent to the Governor’s Recognition of Performance Excellence Celebration in our state capital, Des Moines. The Cedar Rapids Community School District was being honored as the first school district in Iowa receive the Bronze Award from Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence (IRPE). The IRPE’s are Iowa’s version of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program. Normally, I am not a big award guy, but several years ago I was convinced to become involved with the state quality program in Illinois. I remain pleased that I was persuaded. While it is nice to be recognized with an award, the satisfaction that comes from the work to prepare the application and the work that follows when you go to work on the suggestions for improvement in the feedback report far exceed whether or not one is selected for recognition.
And so, there we were, accepting an award in a nice banquet room, surrounded and applauded by a couple hundred people who were also on continuous improvement journeys of their own. I have to admit, it felt very good to be there. As with all events of this nature, in a short time we were back in the car making the two-hour trek back to Cedar Rapids (OK, it was two and one-half hours…Jay made me take a wrong turn…well, actually three wrong turns!). We chatted about the evening, extending our celebration just a bit, and I think we smiled all of the way home.
The next morning, we were back in the office ‘chopping wood’, secure in the knowledge that we were doing important work in a manner in which we believed and enjoyed. Although we look forward to another formal celebration sometime in the future, I realized once again that there really are reasons to celebrate each day. I’ll bet you have them too.
Dr. Dave Markward
Superintendent- Cedar Rapids Community School District
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Comments
Feeling which give you pleasure is the name of happy and many people celebrate it,
I share a story and I celebrate it whenever I meet her .It is about my friend. She was willing to get higher education but financially was not strong and decided to stop.
Then I urged her to continue her studies at any cost .I advised her that you are eligible
To fill the fee concession form. The mean time, I helped her in other aspects.
She completed her education. She has spend very good life up till now .Moreover I
Evolved to do such action and struggle to make a prospective society.
Posted by: nazish laraib | March 23, 2007 11:11 PM
I feel proud to be a part of such a progressive district that not only believes in continuous improvement, but seeks out the best support and training to make it happen.
I began my CI journey in Oct. 2006.
CI has been and continues to be an exciting adventure. When I asked my students how has CI changed them, they said, “We feel we
have a voice and control of our own learning. We set our goals and we know what we need to do to reach those goals. We can’t wait to come
to school on Monday to see if the class reached our goal.”
CI is not a program, but belief system.
A belief that we (students and teachers)
all continue to grow and improve, we are never there; we can only get better. I’ve participated in many excellent staff development opportunities,
but none have had such a drastic simultaneous impacton students and my teaching practices. CI has given
students a voice in solving problems that arise
It has given me permission to really listen to their concerns. It has empowered them to take ownership
of their educational journey. It created a community of learners where everyone was helping each other meet
the goal. Student’s enthusiasm for setting and meeting their goals was contagious.
As the trimester drew to a close we began to goal set again, and the class was really upset
when someone suggested “easy” goal. They wanted the challenge. They have a target and they want their arrows to hit the bullseye. They weren’t
willing to settle for 2nd best. CI is incredibly invigorating and powerful. CI focused the students on what is their part of the learning process.
One child told me, “Mrs. T. it’s like when you use the focus button on the overhead to make the
picture clearer…I can now clearly see what I’m supposed to be trying to accomplish.”
As teachers we always shorten things,
but I don’t want CI to be just another
acronym, CI is continuous improvement
for everyone.
I've grown so much this year, and I look forward to that continued growth.
Posted by: Kim Thompson | April 12, 2007 10:41 PM