Quality in Education

Guest blogger, Kim Thompson (5th grade teacher in the Mountain View, California school district) shares reflections from her students in her continuous improvement classroom.  In the "Voice of the Customer" series, students share their experiences and reflections about the impact of continuous improvement.

One student states “it motivates students, like myself, into reaching the highest point that they can push themselves to go”.  Read the rest of this 5th grade student's reflection of continuous improvement in Mrs. Thompson's classroom...

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The Data Center has helped Bubb 5th graders in many ways. For one, it motivates students, like myself, into reaching the highest point that they can push themselves to go. It gives them a sense of where they are academically by explaining and showing their strengths and weaknesses. We have a chart that Mrs. Thompson graphs for us. The chart shows grades for our Math Journals and for our weekly quizzes. Displaying my grades makes me want to do the best that I can do. It also makes our entire 5th grade try to show off.

You know how when you walk into a classroom for the first time, your new teacher gives you your assigned seats and then you unpack your school supplies into your desk. After that, they tell you their class rules and the consequences for breaking them. Then they tell you what they expect for your goal for the rest of the year. When I walked into Mrs. Thompson's class it was different, we got to make the rules for ourselves and determined what our goals are for the trimester. Mrs. Thompson treats us like adults, we get our own say about what we do. The PLUS-DELTA chart lets us express our feelings anonymously, by saying what we're feeling about the lesson and if we fully understand the concept or not.

The Data Center is basically there to expand learning experiences and to help Mrs. Thompson help us. She doesn't just want us to memorize facts and formulas. She wants us to fully understand why we're doing it and to learn how so we can use it all the time. It's not just worksheet after worksheet, it's using tools to understand the concepts. And I think the Data Center helps me feel like I am really learning and accomplishing my math goals and so much more!

My point is, that the Data Center is useful in the classroom.

-5th Grade Student
Mountain View Whisman School Distrtict, CA
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What do your students say about their experiences with continuous improvment in your classroom or school?  Post a comment today!

Posted by Jay Marino at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Let’s hear the “voice of the customer!” Teachers, are you engaging your students in continuous improvement?  We want to hear from them, in their own voices.  Consider having your students write about their experiences with continuous improvement in your classroom.

Over the next month, the Quality in Education blog will seek input from educators and their students who are willing to share their experiences with continuous improvement.  The following questions my help prompt some dialog and reflection:

-What does quality mean to you?  How would you define it?
-What is continuous improvement?  What does it look like in your classroom?
-Is your classroom “student-focused”?  How?
-How do you actively participate in your learning?  What responsibilities do you have?
-What are your experiences with mission statements, goal setting, data folders, charting progress with quality tools, class meetings and/or student-led conferences?
-What is the climate and culture like in the continuous improvement classroom?

Teachers, why not have your students write about their experiences today?  Give your students an opportunity to write about their experiences with continuous improvement.    A paragraph or two is sufficient- only include the grade level and city (no personally identifiable information please).  Please email me (jmarino@cr.k12.ia.us) with your students’ reflections in the next few weeks.  What a great way to bring closure to another year of continuous improvement!

Jay

Posted by Jay Marino at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Guest blogger Kim Thompson, teacher in the Mountain View, California school district, shares... “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.” .  Read more about Kim’s experiences below…
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I began my Continuous Improvement (“CI”) journey in October of 2006. CI has been and continues to be an exciting adventure. When I asked my students how CI has 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 and an attitude.  It is 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 impact on students and my teaching practices as learning about continuous improvement.

CI has given students a voice in solving problems that arise and 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 is contagious!

As the trimester recently drew to a close, we began to goal set again.  As students engaged this process, the class was really upset when someone suggested an “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 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.

Kim Thompson
Teacher- Mountain View Whisman
Mountain View, CA

Posted by Jay Marino at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A very special "welcome" to members of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA)!  Several participants who attended the National AASA conference held in New Orleans, LA signed up to receive notifications from ASQ's free resources; the "Quality in Education" blog and the Education Brief newsletter.  At the conference, Dr. Markward (Superintendent) and I had the priveledge of presenting "Providing Support for Change at the District, School and Classroom Level:  Effective Professional Development Practices" (Download the PowerPoint).

Welcome to the blog!  I believe you will find the online discussions interesting, practical and meaningful.  The Quality in Education blog receives over 12,000 hits a month and includes comments from quality enthusiasts from around the world and on the front lines of education.

To get you started, here are some past blog entries that have been most popular. 
*Are You Suffering From The "Too Much On My Plate" Syndrome?
*The Strategic Plan: Not too thick; not too thin; just right.
*More Insights From The Front Lines... Being Better Than The Day Before!
*Why a Continuous Improvement Approach?  Shift Happens!
*How's Your Constancy of Purpose?
*Quality & Continuous Improvement isn't an "Add-On"

Again, welcome to the blog!  We look forward to your comments and insight on quality in education.

Jay

Posted by Jay Marino at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In the most current issue of ASQ's Education Brief, read about the Cedar Rapids schools in the article titled- "Demystifying Baldrige: Lessons Learned by an Urban Public School District on its Journey to Performance Excellence"  The Cedar Rapids Community School District in Iowa, the second largest district in the state, has been using the Baldridge Criteria for Performance Excellence to develop the best educational and support systems possible for the students and faculty. Superintendent Dave Markward and J. Jay Marino, associate superintendent for organizational effectiveness and accountability, share their continuous improvement journey and the lessons learned along the way.

Everyone is looking for resources to help in the continuous improvement journey.  Did you know that the American Society for Quality offers a free (yes, I said FREE) electronic newsletter for educators?  The Education Brief newsletter provides a valuable resource for educators wherever they are along the journey to excellence.  The articles can be downloaded and shared with colleagues to encourage discussion around issues of continuous improvement.

Download the article today and be sure to share this resource with your colleagues.

Jay

Posted by Jay Marino at 06:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)