Tennessee School Brings Boardroom to Classroom
Published Apr 07, 2002
Students at Cherokee High School in Rogersville sometimes found the study of life sciences to be … well, lifeless. The lack of enthusiasm was reflected in below-average test scores, so teacher Rick Collins decided to take action. “I was talking to the assistant principal, Jim Hageman, and he told me about the Baldrige plan. That gave me the OK to experiment,” Collins says.
He and his students devised a competitive game built around scientific terms and basic concepts. “We started playing games and they started waking up and having more fun. I saw more motivation, more kids learning. Kids have multimedia minds, and sometimes coming to school to them is like going back to primitive times. We’re trying to get away from a stale environment and be more action-packed, more competitive,” Collins says.
Not only did learning suddenly become fun, the competitive aspect encouraged students to study harder. The result? All the students passed the Gateway test in biology in December 2001.
It was an example of the out-of-the-box thinking engendered by the Baldrige in Education initiative. Modeled after the business-oriented Malcolm Baldrige standards embraced by the private sector, the program integrates total quality management and continuous improvement into everyday teaching and learning.
Cherokee is one of 10 Tennessee high schools participating in the pilot program. “We’ve learned to put student focus first, approaching them in a different way,” says Assistant Principal Hageman. “It really changed the air in my classroom,” Collins says. “Before, I was fighting them tooth and nail, day in and day out. Now we have fun together in the classroom and they even talk to me in the hall.”
Administered by Tennessee Education Edge, the competitive federal grants were funded by the U.S. Department of Education and authorized under the National School-to-Work Act of 1994. Applicants had to meet specific state and federal criteria. Each grant totals up to $100,000 per school. The first school year of full implementation was 2001-2002.
The process in Tennessee has been a collaborative effort among the offices of Education Edge, Accountability and Teacher Professional Development in the state’s Department of Education.
“These grants give both teachers and students the opportunity to integrate total-quality-management tools, Baldrige in Education principles and continuous-improvement planning in their school-improvement plans,” says Betsy Houston, executive director of Education Edge.
Education Edge began five years ago as a statewide school-to-career initiative that helps kindergarten through high school students with experiential learning. Today, with more than 50 partnerships, the program identifies career pathways and aligns school curriculum. In high school, all students have a focused program of study designed as a career pathway connecting secondary education, post-secondary education and the workplace.
The Baldrige initiative extends Education Edge’s role, Houston adds, saying “all eyes are on us” to watch how it’s working and how it could be replicated.
“We believe that if you improve teachers and the way that they teach with structured teaching strategies and the Baldrige criteria and tools, then you will improve the student learning,” she says.
Baldrige plans include business, community and parental involvement, and all entities are active in the school’s leadership teams. They help with planning, goal setting, improving academic performance, increasing attendance and decreasing dropout rates.
The program addresses student achievement and teacher performance and allows schools to conduct activities that will implement components of a revised School Improvement Plan. The plan is designed to fill identified system gaps and eliminate root causes of low student performance.
Baldrige concepts are making a genuine difference at Holloway High School in Murfreesboro. The public school is considered a “choice academic school” focused on lowering the dropout rate and helping students who are behind in earning credits.
“If students have turned the corner on some past nonproductive behavior and now have a focus, we can help them be productive and have more success in their learning,” explains Ivan Duggin, principal. Duggin and his staff understood that the Baldrige concepts incorporate total-quality education through incremental improvement and student ownership of learning. The entire school, parents and community members are stakeholders.
“In our classrooms, you’ll see more team and group activities with the teacher as a coach or facilitator of learning,” notes Duggin. “Teachers are being more responsive to what’s productive to student learning. We believe that students are a valuable component of this and are coming to school with the intent of learning.”
Early results over a six-month time frame at Holloway were remarkable. TCAP (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program) writing skills rose from 17 percent to 48 percent proficiency. Language rates increased from 40 percent to 87 percent proficiency. Math scores in fall 2001 were 20 percent. In spring 2002, they hit 77 percent proficiency.
At Cherokee, Hageman sees the Baldrige process as a common-sense approach, doing things that are practical while imparting the knowledge that students need.
“Accountability is a big part of this,” says Hageman. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that what we’ve seen so far is going to be a big help from the top administration down through to your custodial services.”
A recent survey of Fortune 500 companies identified the top two desirable traits for prospective employees as teamwork and problem-solving abilities. That’s something that Cherokee students will take with them to the workplace, noted Hageman, thanks to the Baldrige techniques and principles learned in high school.
Story by Sharyn Matthews
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