In the spring of 2008, Community Consolidated District15 learned that eight of its schools had failed to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) for reading. This is a common issue for school districts across the country that is often the result of student subgroups failing to meet the AYP standard.

District 15 serves 12,000 students in northwestern Chicago at 15 elementary schools, four junior high schools, a preschool early childhood center, and an alternative public day school. It received the Baldrige Award in 2003.

A lot has changed since then. Several key leaders retired. A referendum failed and $25 million had to be cut from the budget, which led to hiring several first-time teachers. Key positions that supported the Baldrige initiative were eliminated. New board members were elected. A new superintendent started in June 2008.

Under such conditions, a Baldrige mindset can easily disintegrate. The opposite happened at District 15. The PDSA cycle (plan-do-study-act) had become part of the district’s culture, as had the use of quality tools. In the summer of 2008, a team of principals and other district leaders was formed to tackle the AYP problem. The team analyzed test scores and discovered that the district’s intervention programs weren’t working. It developed a placement matrix to guide principals and staff to the most appropriate intervention program for a student’s specific learning needs.

The team also realized that the key to improving student learning was more instructional time with at-risk students. It researched and benchmarked other schools’ extended day programs, then used the PDSA process and quality tools to develop and launch their own in a few months.

Reading scores improved dramatically: 17 of the district’s 19 schools achieved AYP on the 2009 tests.

The American Society for Quality describes the district’s process in “Former Baldrige Recipient Rekindles Its Quality Fire,” by Janet Jacobsen (August 2009). To me, the point of the story is not the results, although they are something every school district wants. I believe the point is that a culture of continuous improvement thrived despite serious setbacks, and that culture is the key to District 15’s long-term success.

And that is the value of integrating the Baldrige model.

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