Quality in Education

Several weeks ago I received a request from K. M. Enamul Hoque in Bangledesh who is in search of information about community participation in education.  Take a moment to read the complete letter below.  Responses to this request can be posted in the comments section of the blog.  How do you involve your community in continuous improvement efforts?

-Jay
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Greetings form Bangladesh!

Thanks to ASQ for nice discussion on quality education blog. I love to read it and enjoy it as well. It is really a good instrument for learning about quality education.   Today I am writing you for getting some help about a research work on Community participation in education.

You might know that Bangladesh has a strong commitment to education and it also has one of the largest primary education systems in the world. Despite rapid growth in last few decades in terms of access and completion rates the system itself is a barrier to further improvement, especially improving the quality of education towards achieving the EFA goals and MDG. Considering these facts, Government of Bangladesh has taken numbers of initiatives including PEDP II to improve the quality of education where community has some significant role to play. But still quality is a question; the Education Watch report shows that only 2% student (national average, urban situation is better) achieves all 27 competencies after completion of their 5 years primary education cycle. Consequently the marginalize section of people are facing challenges to realize their potential and improve their livelihood.

It bothers me and leads to carry out some case study on the involvement of community. I would like to have a deeper understanding about how they define community, the process of selecting community representative in the School Management Committee (SMC), their role and results/impact. I would also like to identify the roots causes of the problem (not achieving the required competencies). In this regard I have selected 5 primary schools operated by public finance in the rural area about 100km away from the capital city.

Before starting the field work I would like to review some literature. It would be nice the have the definition of community in different county or location, model of community participation in improving the quality of education, quality indicators at the primary level. Community role in primary school governance issues, improving education provisions, facilitating in improvement of learning environment, teachers recruitment, reduce dropout, improve quality of education. I would also like to know the areas, mechanism and spaces of collaboration among the community, school and local government.

Would you mind to initiate a discussion on the issue? Is it possible helping me to get access to some similar research on similar issues or any case study?

Sincerely,
K. M. Enamul Hoque

Posted by Jay Marino at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Educators across America are preparing to bring closure to the school year as another season of education passes us by.  Before packing up the books and sweeping the floors, why not engage students in some of the following activities: 

• Review highlights of the year (a year-in-review plus/delta)
• Summarize progress toward classroom goals and celebrate achievements
• Host a classroom meeting and have students each share growth that they've made in a focus area they selected this year
• Discuss potential goals for next year and get students thinking about their mission for next year
• Evaluate student perception of progress toward the class mission and ground rules. 
• Engage students in providing feedback to you as the teacher.  Ask:  What were your most memorable experiences in this class this year?  What would you recommend I change or do differently with next year's class?  How could I improve as a teacher?

The school year of continuous improvement never ends.  Although summer is quickly approaching, utilize this opportunity to begin planning for next year.  How will you make next year's experience even better for students?  How can you assist all learners to reach their full potential?  what changes are necessary as you look to the future?

Jay

Posted by Jay Marino at 06:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ASQ's Education Leadership Summit brings school leaders from around the country together for a provocative discussion on current issues in education. They've expanded this year's event to include the district leadership team (Superintendent and central office cabinet members).

This summit encourages presenters and participants to work together to explore systems management and Baldrige implementation.  Participants will engage in workshops and activities designed to explore the cutting edge of continuous improvement practices.

 Objectives of the summit include:

*Utilize the expertise of leading professionals.

*Draw on the experience of leaders from other districts throughout the country.

*Apply the content of the summit to the goals and objectives they pursue in their own districts.

Presenters include:  Susan Leddick; President & Sr. Consultant, Margaret Byrnes ;Quality Education Associates, Jay Marino; Assoc. Superintendent, Sandra Byrne; Baldrige Office Program Staff, Jeff Lucas; Baldrige Office Program Staff, Kirby Lehman; Superintendent, Jenks, Diane Bosworth; Assistant Superintendent, Jenks

Posted by Jay Marino at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The "Voice of the Customer" continues as five 5th grade students from Mountain View, California share their reflections of continuous improvement in their classroom.  One student shares- "CI is really affecting my learning in a positive way."  Read their reflections below!

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CI is really affecting my learning in a positive way. It makes me determined because I know there is a goal. I helped make the goal, I had a say in it, and therefore, I agree with the goal, also because there is constant grades. In fourth grade I usually had to wait for my report card at the end of the trimester to see what some of my big grades were. I also think it is good that we’re keeping track of the class’s grade percentage. It made me determined not to be the one who let the class down. Not to be the one who stops the whole class from getting 100% or 4’s or 100% or 5’s. I really recommend you teach other teachers CI because I think it could really help some kids succeed. The plus/delta chart is not one of the best mechanisms, it is the best.  I think it’s awesome. We get to put out our ideas, compliment stuff, before I never had a voice, but now we do and it sure feels good to have a voice. I strongly recommend that you pass this along to other teachers.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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I think continuous improvement is really great. It helps me know what’s going on in class when we put notes on the plus delta chart and read them, it also helps our teacher know if there are any problems or things she should know about. The graphs of our journal grades also help know how we are doing as a whole class. Our journals tell us how we are doing individually.

In continuous improvement we come up with goals to see if we can reach them. It makes the class try as hard as we can and really stretch our minds.  I enjoy that we get to share our thoughts. We can tell if we have problems or if we’re struggling but most of all it makes me feel like I have a voice and I can control what happens with the classroom.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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CI has helped by telling me about my grades and how good I’m doing in school. CI has helped me because I know I should try harder and boost my grades or stay where I am. Last year my grades were average or below average, then I used continuous improvement and I have average to above average grades.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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Continuous Improvement has helped my learning more like using the plus/deltas and tracking my grades and seeing what I need help on.  This year is very different from last year. Last year was not like this year, we didn’t have charts or data centers. It was much harder to understand my grades.
           
I enjoy CI. I understand stuff better like charts and my grades.  I would like other teachers to use CI with their students because I think it will help them learn faster.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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What do your students say about their experiences with continuous improvement in your classroom or school?  Post a comment today!

Jay

Posted by Jay Marino at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The "Voice of the Customer" continues as five 5th grade students from Mountain View, California share their reflections of continuous improvement in their classroom.  One student shares- "CI is such great process to have in our classes. It has made me work harder."  Read their reflections below!
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CI is such a great process to have in our classes. It has made me work harder. We have goals we have to reach. Doing the graphs has also made sure I stayed focused on what I’m supposed to do. Plus/Delta charts have also given us students the ability to have a chance to speak up about what we find interesting and what we want to change about what we’re learning. Class this year is very different because last year, they just showed us what we’re learning not even giving us a chance to ask the steps or more simpler and fun way of doing so.

What I really enjoy is writing in our journals to our teacher asking questions what we learned and what we don’t understand.  I would recommend many teachers to use this great method in their classes. Many of those around me have grown, learned and experienced so much with the help of continuous improvement. I’ve noticed when school started everyone hated math, but now I hear, “I wonder what our teacher has planned today?” Every Monday we’d rush to our data center excited to see what grade they had this week. I’ve grown so much. Each day I’d get home too excited to tell them what I learned. I believe continuous improvement is a great method, and I hope many more districts agree to have this in their classes.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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I think the charts helped me most since last year I didn’t know how I and my class were doing and now this year the charts have showed many us have improved and how many of us need more help. I think continuous improvement is great because you know that everybody is doing it with you. I think that other teachers should do continuous improvement because it will let others know that the teacher cares for the kids.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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The best part of CI is that it tracks progress and tells us what we have to work on. I recommend it to teachers because it’s easy to do and helpful for the teachers and kids.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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Math this year has been a lot better because with continuous improvement the plus delta we get to share our feelings of what is happening in class and because of the goals in our grades. I think that it encourages us to work our best.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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I would describe CI as a funner way to learn and the goals make us want to reach it more and I think it is a good idea to show our grades on something.  CI has changed me as a student by doing journal entries. It has never done this in the previous years. The journals have helped me memorized more math in ways and how to use different tools.

I enjoy doing the journal entries in CI because it is fun for me to see if I reach my goal. I recommend CI to teachers to join CI because in my opinion kids will enjoy doing it.

-5th Grade Student; Mountain View, California
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What do your students say about their experiences with continuous improvement in your classroom or school?  Post a comment today!

-Jay

Posted by Jay Marino at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the last blog entry titled "Voice of the Customer: Students Reflect on Continuous Improvement", guest blogger, Kim Thompson (5th grade teacher in the Mountain View, California school district) shared reflections from a student in her continuous improvement classroom.  Today, one student shares "Continuous improvement is everything a child needs."  Read more reflections from students in her class below!
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I have been doing Continuous Improvement (CI) this year in my math class. It has been very different than last year. This year I’ve had graphs to track my progress and see what I need to do to reach the goals that the class has set. Using the plus/delta charts have really let the teacher know what I think and feel. It has also been a change to do the radar charts too. They have really helped me to try harder to do my very best.

In my opinion, I would definitely recommend CI to other teachers. I think it has been really fun and is a great learning process for kids to experience. I hope that one day every child will get to do CI.

-5th grade student in Mountain View, California
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I think CI is a program that can help kids continuously improve. You have Plus Delta chart so you can express yourself, a graph to see how we did as a whole class, smart goals to put us on the right track, and a radar chart for a grade for the day.

Compared to last year, continuous improvement helps you not only with math skills but with social skills too because every kid has a voice in the plus delta and in writing the smart goal. Without continuous improvement, you don’t really get the social skills you need to be successful in life.

What I enjoy about CI is the plus delta chart because I have never been able to tell my teacher what could stay and what could change about class. It really gives me a chance to speak my mind,

If any teacher feels as if their students don’t get a chance to speak what they feel, continuous improvement can help kids say what they feel by using plus delta and writing smart goals not only for the class but for themselves too.

I hope every kid gets to experience CI because it is just amazing what you can learn. Kids need social skills to give them more opportunities for jobs. If they want to run for president, they need social skills. If they want to be a lawyer, teacher, speaker or author, they need social skills. CI gives kids social skills they need to have to be one of those. CI is everything a child needs.

-5th grade student in Mountain View, California
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What do your students say about their experiences with continuous improvement in your classroom or school?  Post a comment today!

-Jay

Posted by Jay Marino at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)