ERIC Number: ED452268
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2001-Apr
Pages: 28
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
A Question of Quality: The Malcolm Baldrige Criteria as Applied to Education.
Banister, Savilla
This paper describes and evaluates the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award process as a model for educational improvement. The Baldrige model is evaluated using the views of M. Greene and E. Eisner and data collected from an elementary public school in which the model has been implemented for 5 years. The Baldrige National Quality Program and Award are managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, assisted by the American Society for Quality. Educational criteria have been established as a basis for determining awards to schools. These criteria rely on a seven-point framework similar to criteria established for evaluating businesses. Four of the core values of the Baldrige criteria are: (1) Learning Centered Education; (2) Continuous Improvement and Organizational Learning; (3) Design Quality and Prevention; and (4) Management by Fact. The Baldrige model claims to be nonprescriptive, but whether a school implementing the Baldrige plan can actually embrace an aesthetic vision as outlined by M. Green and E. Eisner was studied at a small inner-city elementary school. The rhetoric of the Baldrige plan did not play out during the supposed implementation of the plan over 5 years at this school. The findings suggest that quality in schools cannot be legislated through a corporate approach to success. (SLD)
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A