The Baldrige Quality Academy at Sherwood Elementary School
Why are we using Baldrige?
In 2002 Montgomery County Public Schools adopted the Malcolm Baldrige model for continuous improvement as a roadmap for school planning. Baldrige in education is about helping educators improve the quality of student learning and the effectiveness of the classrooms, schools, and district.
At Sherwood we use this process at several levels. For the whole school program, there is a leadership team comprised of parents, teachers, and other staff. This team reviews data, ensures that all stakeholder groups are involved, determines overriding goals for the whole school, and monitors the implementation action plans. Each grade level team uses the same process to determine specific areas that they need to address. They use Linkages Charts to outline the steps in designing action plans. They set goals and monitor progress towards those goals. In the individual classroom teachers are now guiding students in monitoring their own personal progress through data notebooks and classroom data walls.
How are quality tools used?
Teachers and students use a variety of quality tools to encourage participation, to solve problems, and to monitor progress. For example, Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) is a cycle used for making changes to promote continuous improvement. Plus/delta charts are used to identify both what is working well and opportunities for improvement. A force field analysis is used to analyze factors that may be “driving” or “preventing” goal attainment. Action plans are used to record steps that need to be taken in order to reach goals. Issue bins are used to collect ideas, questions, and concerns. Flow charts are used to outline multi-step processes.
What is the Baldrige Quality Academy?
The Baldrige Quality Academy is the on-site training center for all of the MCPS schools. The Academy will provide teachers with the tools needed to implement Baldrige in their classrooms. As a part of this program, MCPS teachers and principals will be able to visit classrooms at Sherwood to see Baldrige in action. It is an honor that our school has been chosen as the training site for others.
Using the Baldrige tools, we have developed Ground Rules for our visitors, and Flow Charts for the process of visiting. The Academy will provide an "Issue Bin" environment outside of the classroom for discussion of what is observed. The input from our visitors will provide our staff with a Plus/Delta reflection on how we are doing with our implementation.
Parents are welcome to visit the Academy and learn more about these exciting processes.
More About Baldrige
Find out more about Baldrige in Montgomery County Public Schools