Improvement Through KEYS and Baldridge Models

Keys to Excellence in Your School (KEYS)

The KEYS model is useful for our purposes for several reasons. First of all, it incorporates all the major elements of school improvement—instruction, curriculum, assessment, data-based decision making, leadership, and professional development. Second, it also hits on topics regarding change and implementation that Textbook 2 referred to in Chapter 2 from the previous lesson. Third, it will give us another point of comparison to the other systems/continuous improvement models we have already examined or will be examining—specifically, the Leading for Learning model (which is cited numerous times by KEYS), the Baldridge Criteria (coming up in the next lesson), and McREL’s Asking the Right Questions. Finally, one of our texts, The Keys to Effective Schools: Educational Reform as Continuous Improvement, was commissioned by the KEYS project. The chapters provide a research-base and the conceptual underpinnings for the KEYS model. The chapters themselves are written by some of the most renowned and knowledgeable researchers in their particular areas of specialization.

Baldrige Model

We turn our attention to the Baldrige program’s Educational Criteria for Performance Excellence. In many ways, these two continuous improvement models are complete opposites. For better or worse, the various components and processes as well as the guiding assumptions of the KEYS 2.0 model are grounded in a educational research base. (See Textbook 1.)

Alternatively, the Baldrige model and its “Criteria for Performance Excellence” were first developed for the business/corporate world. Its roots are deep within the Total Quality Management (TQM) movement and associated processes and this orientation is reflected throughout the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. To get a quick orientation to the Baldrige approach, go to Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.

The “About Us” page gives the basics of the approach. You might also want to explore, Baldrige Process Improvement, found just under the heading Resources. Then click on the Criteria for Performance Excellence. This brings you to the page that lists the “critical aspects of management that contribute to performance excellence.” As noted on the page, there are three versions of the Criteria for Performance Excellence available for download. Obviously, we are interested in the one dealing with education, although similar booklets are available for business/nonprofits and health care. I also downloaded the Self-Analysis Worksheet. As noted in the directions, this is for schools to assess how far along they are in meeting the six categories of performance excellence – leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, data analysis, workforce focus, and operations focus. In other words, it parallels the KEYS 2.0 survey but uses the Baldrige Criteria. This is NOT to be completed. It is simply for your information and again, it is found in eReserves.

Additional background information about the quality management movement is found in the reading assignment listed above—Chapter 3 “Evidence of the Effectiveness of Continuous Improvement” from Textbook 1. In the first and lengthy section of this chapter titled, “Evidence from Studies of Non-Education Organizations,” the author traces the evolution of the quality management movement from its early beginnings as first expressed in Peters & Waterman’s bestseller, In Search of Excellence, to its more recent incarnations as represented in Collins’ bestseller, Good to Great. Note that a theme seems to emerging here. This section of the chapter, by the way, by far exceeds in length the other section, “Evidence from Studies of Schools and School Districts,” which is less than 5 pages in length. This is telling.