Improving Systems Performance: Organizational Best Practices

Excerpted with permission from "A Systems Approach to School Improvement Orientation," published by Jim Shipley & Associates and developed in collaboration with NCA CASI.

In this climate of increasing accountability, today's education stakeholder expects high performance and a system in which no child is left behind. School districts and schools are held accountable for ensuring adequate yearly progress of all students. This level of sustained performance cannot occur just in one classroom or even one building. It requires coordinated collaboration across schools and strong support from district leadership. It requires a systems approach to continual improvement driven by customer needs, expectations, and requirements.

High performing districts that have managed to sustain lasting improvement through a systemic approach share similar beliefs and behaviors. These beliefs and behaviors - or organizational best practices - are the foundation for developing and connecting all the parts of the system. Integration of these best practices into the daily actions of the organization is essential for high performance.

Following is an overview of these organizational best practices which have been captured and adapted from Baldrige research and work. As you read them, think about how frequently you observe and/or experience these beliefs and behaviors in your organization - rarely, sometimes, often, or regularly. The more frequently you observe these best practices, the higher performing your organization is; the less frequently, the greater the opportunity for your organization to progress toward high performance.

Visionary Leadership

• Leaders set clear direction and create a student-focused, learning-oriented climate that balances the needs of all stakeholders and engages the entire workforce in contributing to system performance excellence.

Learning-Centered Education

• The organization emphasizes active student learning with students taking responsibility for the management of the learning process. Characteristics include: high expectations and standards for all students, a balance of formative and summative assessment, self-assessment by students and families to establish goals and monitor progress, and a focus on school-to-school and school-to-work transitions.

Organizational and Personal Learning

• The organization has a well-executed approach to continual improvement that engages faculty, staff, students, parents, and other stakeholders as full participants in learning and as contributors to improvement processes.

Valuing Faculty, Staff, Students, and Partners

• The organization commits to faculty, staff, and partner satisfaction, development, and well-being. Partners include internal partners and external partners (other schools/districts, suppliers, businesses, community, social service organizations).

Agility

• The organization is able to deliver fast and flexible responses to meet the needs of customers, students, and stakeholders.

Focus on the Future

• The organization's planning anticipates many factors including changes in requirements, instructional approaches, resource availability, community expectations, technological developments, and demographics.

Managing for Innovation

The organization makes innovation a part of the culture to the degree that it is integrated into the daily work of the all faculty, staff, and students.

Management by Fact

The organization makes decisions based on measurement, information, data, and analysis. The organization depends on measurements that provide critical data and information about key processes and results.

Social Responsibility

The organization serves as a role model for internal stakeholders in its operation as part of the education system and for external stakeholders as a member of the community. The organization stresses ethical behavior in all stakeholder transactions and interactions.

Focus on Results and Creating Value

The organization focuses on performance results which reflect and balance the needs and interests of students and all stakeholders.

Systems Perspective

The organization manages the whole enterprise as well as its components to achieve performance excellence. The organization synthesizes key requirements into strategic priorities, aligns plans, processes, and measures toward the priorities, and integrates the parts of the system in an interconnected manner.

Interested in Finding Out More?

NCA CASI is providing workshops across the region on systems improvement where the organizational best practices detailed in this article are reviewed and discussed in greater depth. The workshops provide schools and districts with a solid understanding of the basics of a systems approach. They also serve as a good introduction to NCA CASI's District Accreditation framework which is a systems approach to improving student performance. The District Accreditation framework helps districts create high performing learning systems in which teachers, administrators, support staff, parents, community, and students are partners in producing high quality learning. To learn more about our systems improvement workshops and District Accreditation, visit www.ncacasi.org/district.

Resources
Clearinghouse Websites. Looking for education information on the web? Wondering where to go after the closure of the ERIC clearinghouse? A good place to start is any one of the many clearinghouses that serve as storage and distribution sites for information on a wide range of education topics. Click here for a list and description of clearinghouse websites.

Elementary Reading Websites. Elementary schools working on reading goals might want to check out this list of elementary reading websites. The sites provide useful information that may help schools in their efforts to improve students' reading performance.

Sharing from the NCA Network - Owosso Public Schools, Michigan
Located in central Michigan, approximately 60 miles northeast of Lansing, the Owosso Public School District engages in a continuous process of improvement to achieve its mission, vision, and goals of excellence. Comprised of five elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, the district uses the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to guide their improvement efforts. All of their schools are accredited by NCA CASI, and the district has committed to pursuing NCA CASI's District Accreditation.

The district's schools consistently receive strong grades from the state. They have been able to sustain solid student performance by engaging all stakeholders in the improvement process. Students develop business plans to chart their academic growth. Teachers develop business plans to chart the academic growth of their classroom. Building principals, along with district-level administrators, develop business plans aligned to the stakeholder strategic plan to chart the academic growth of their building/department and their contributions to the district plan.

A forum for continuous school improvement is directly aligned to curriculum and student academic achievement through the efforts of a District of Excellence Council consisting of approximately 25 school and community members. The council uses a Plan, Do, Study, Act system to assure that curriculum is kept current, is implemented, and produces desired student results. The system enables district administration to budget its resources for curriculum design efficiently in advance. It results in an officially adopted curriculum for the district that is communicated to the public and staff. Provisions are made for continuous review and improvement in all subject areas.

Curriculum maps, aligned with Michigan Department of Education standards, and benchmarks continue to be created for every K-12 course in the school system. This is executed by a Five Year Plan for Curriculum Renewal process, which began in 2000.

To learn more about the work of Owosso Public Schools, visit their website at www.owosso.k12.mi.us. Be sure to click on the link for "Strategic Plan." The district has aligned the strategic plan around the seven capacities of NCA CASI District Accreditation. The district will be hosting their NCA CASI District Accreditation visit this spring.

Commission Corner

New Resource: Elementary Reading Assessment Guide. This comprehensive guide provides an overview of assessment; criteria and checklists to help you identify, select, and use quality assessments; a sample improvement plan for a reading goal; sample formative assessments; a useful matrix that lists close to 90 commercially available reading assessments; an annotated directory of the assessments listed in the matrix; and a directory of assessment publishers. The guide is a useful resource for any elementary school working to improve reading performance. The guide costs $30 plus shipping and can be purchased at the NCA CASI store at http://www.ncacasi.org/catalog/item?sku=4021.

New and Revised Accreditation Criteria Effective 2005-06. As a reminder, the new and revised accreditation criteria adopted at the 2004 Annual Meeting will become effective in the 2005-06 school year. The changes pertain to early childhood, elementary, middle level, secondary, and unit schools. You can view the new criteria at www.ncacasi.org/standards.

Annual Meeting Notes

Register for NCA CASI's 110th Annual Meeting!
Every Student Every Step of the Way
April 17-20, 2005 - Chicago Downtown Marriott, Chicago, IL

The Annual Meeting is just a few months away. We invite you to join us for three days of discussion and sharing of best practices designed to help you meet the needs of all students. Listen to keynote speaker Willard Daggett share lessons learned from ten years of school reform. Join Rick Stiggins for a thoughtful discussion of the relationship between assessment and effective schools. Participate in the over 100 practitioner-led concurrent sessions focused on successful practices for raising student performance. Sign up for one of several pre- and post-conferences including special in-depth seminars led by the keynote speakers. Visit www.ncacasi.org/event/meeting to find out more and to register.

Earn Graduate Credit
NCA CASI and the University of Nebraska Lincoln have teamed to develop a school improvement course specifically for conference attendees. Through the course, participants will connect with the keynote speakers and return from Chicago with newfound knowledge to apply to their school or district. Participants will use the work of Dr. Willard R. Daggett, a futurist, and Dr. Rick Stiggins, student centered classroom assessment expert, to explore the relationship of assessment to effective school improvement both now and in the future. The course begins March 1, 2005 and concludes May 1, 2005. Visit http://www.ncacasi.org/event/meeting/unlcredit to find out more.

Upcoming Professional Development

Introduction to Systems Thinking Workshops
N CA CASI is offering numerous workshops across the NCA CASI region on our new District Accreditation framework. The workshops introduce participants to systems thinking and provide the foundation needed to pursue District Accreditation. Visit http://www.ncacasi.org/district/districtworkshops for more information.

2005 Assessment Conference
March 3, 2005
Holiday Inn South, Lansing, Michigan
Keynote speaker: Dr. Tom Guskey, Professor, University of Kentucky
Visit http://www.nca.umich.edu/assessment_conference05.html to find out more.

Systems Leadership Summer Academy
June 20-22, 2005
Chesterton, IN (30 minutes from Chicago)
NCA CASI is hosting a three-day summer academy on systems leadership. The academy is designed for district teams that are interested in pursuing or have already made the commitment to pursue NCA CASI's District Accreditation. The academy provides hands-on technical assistance to district teams as they develop action plans for system improvement. In-depth training on the components of high performing systems is provided throughout the academy. Teams are afforded ample time to work together to discuss, plan, and begin putting into practice the concepts they learn at the academy. They also have opportunities to share ideas and best practices with other participating district teams from across the NCA region. Teams will leave the academy with a detailed action plan aimed at helping the district improve system performance. Visit http://www.ncacasi.org/district/district_academy to find out more.

School Improvement Specialist Program
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln/NCA CASI School Improvement Specialist Program is designed for school improvement leaders who are developing a comprehensive school improvement plan. Participants develop their plan as they work through the program with insight and feedback from faculty and other participants. When the program is complete, participants have a model to implement, 12 graduate credits, and the School Improvement Specialist credential from NCA CASI. New course sequences will begin each spring and fall semester. Visit http://extended.unl.edu/ncaimprove for more information about the program and how to enroll.

NSSE Resources
The National Study of School Evaluation recently released Accreditation for Quality Schools: A Practitioners' Guide. The guide helps school leaders assess a school's readiness for accreditation and provides information on the three required components of accreditation: standards, continuous improvement, and quality assurance. The guide also presents 29 research-based effective practices for improving student achievement across the areas of: 1) ensuring desired results; 2) improving teaching and learning; and 3) fostering a culture of improvement. For more information, contact NSSE at 800-843-6773 or visit www.nsse.org.

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North Central Association
Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement
P.O. Box 871008
Tempe, AZ 85287-1008
800-525-9517
http://www.ncacasi.org

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