The No Child Left behind Act appears to be the primary force driving schools for quality improvement process, including the school I work where I am employed. Through this paper I will assess the need for quality improvement within the school system I work. The paper will include and "As Is" flow chart of the process to be analyzed. The paper will describe the relationship of the process to the organization's strategic plan. Both the internal and external customers of the school I work of will be identified. Finally the paper will include an estimation of the level of improvement that would be realized and the value of implementing the new quality improvement process. Need for Quality Improvement Schools are failing throughout the United States along with the school I am employed at and there is a need for quality improvement. Gathering data from the state mandate ISTEP testing, attendance, graduation/dropout rate, demographics of students and records of parents in PTA and that attended parent teacher's conferences. I was able to bar chart the information to have a better understanding where improvements needed to be made (Burrill and Ledolter). The ISTEP testing results showed that only 55% of the students system wide passed the test. The middle school where I am employed only 50% of the seventh and eighth graders passed the test (Indiana Department of Education). The system as a whole is quite lower than the state's average in all academic subjects. This has led the school system to restructuring of some schools to meet state and federal standards. School attendance has improved a great deal since the mid-1990. The last four year attendance had been at 95%. This is still 2% below the state average, but ... ... middle of paper ... ...s would satisfy both and internal and external customers and satisfying the internal and external customers is how a business stays successful. The paper has truly opened my eyes to the need for a new improvement process within my corporation to ensure the satisfy and ensure the success of everyone involved. References: Burrill, Claude W. and Ledolter, Johannes. 1999. Achieving Quality through Continual Improvement. Retrieved on August 7, 2006, from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary Elkhart Community Schools. 2006. Technology Plan 2006-2009. Retrieved August 7, 2006, from http://elkhart.k12.in.us/5_district/ECS_TechPlan06.pdf Indiana Department of Education. 2006. Corporation Snapshot, Elkhart Community Schools #2305. Retrieved on August 6, 2006, from http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapcorp.cfm?corp=2305
Thornton Fractional South High School represents a diverse school building in the South Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. We consist of a traditional 9th through 12th grade building with the exception of busing students to the District 215 Tech Center for vocational classes. We share these resources with our sister school TF North. Although we consistently outperform TFN, we are behind the state averages on both the ACT and the PSAE. On the ACT, we are below the state average on the composite score as well as on all three recorded sub-categories. We were closest to the state average in Science and the furthest in Reading. As for the PSAE test to measure those students meeting and exceeding standards, we are again behind the state average. TFS averaged 40.5% of students tested to meet or exceed standards. Meanwhile, the State of Illinois average was 53%. Currently, we are on the Academic Watch Status year 2. We were unable to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) or the Safe Harbor Target Goal for Reading and Mathematics which are the two target areas. Our goal as a school is to reach the AYP and attempt to reach and exceed the state averages on the ACT and PSAE.
Birman, Beatrice F., et al. "State And Local Implementation Of The "No Child Left Behind Act." Volume VIII--Teacher Quality Under "NCLB": Final Report." US Department Of Education (2009): ERIC. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Only now is evidence emerging testifying to the fact that much of the criticism leveled at public schools is exaggerated and misplaced. It is easy to forget that schools reflect what is happening in society, not cause it. Schools of today have recently shown that they are performing better than ever. Unfortunately, the traditional challenges confronting schools have increased dramatically and broadly as the world and students have changed. Now schools are facing drastic change -- necessary change that must take place quickly so students are able to cope in a dramatically changing world of the future. All of the criticism creates fear in teachers and administrators rather than a desire to embrace change.
A flurry of solutions has been suggested, ranging from school uniforms to government grants. Unfortunately, many of these solutions are merely superficial. Uniforms, Internet access, and new buildings will do little to help overcrowded classrooms, overworked teachers, and disinterested students. The most obvious answer seems to lie in government grants to remedy buildings and supplies and standardized testing to confirm the quality of every education.
The strategic plan for improving chronically low performing schools will utilize a leadership component, and four phases. The four phases are equivalent to the frames of Bolman and Deal. Bolman and Deal (2003) discuss four frames: Structural, Human Resource, Political, and Symbolic. They define the frames as follows: Structural- reflects a belief in rationality and a faith that th...
The State of Ohio is letting down their students with some of the lowest test scores in our country. According to OSU Research News, reporter Doug Downey states, “up to three-quarters of U.S. schools deemed failing based on achievement test scores and would receive passing grades if evaluated using a less biased measure, a new study suggests” (“Many Failing Schools Aren’t Failing When Measured on Impact rather Than Achievement" par. 1). Above all, teachers feel that all they do is just teach students how to pass assessment tests. Thus, some students feel stress and frustrated, as if all they do is practice and study on how to pass achievement tests. In addition, with the economy effecting property taxes, which have been going down in recent years has affected the school funding. Furthermore, Ohioans are starting to see more states moving towards a year-around school system. Therefore, Ohio fails the students in education, due to lack of state funding, classroom time, and quality teachers.
Public schools across the nation are being labeled as low performing schools at a very fast rate. Low performing schools (LPS) are schools that do not meet the required standards that state officials set each year for all schools. These standards may include a certain graduation rate, certain goals for standardize testing, and a limited number of behavior referrals. The majority of public schools do not meet these standards. They often struggle with high dropout rates, low standardize test scores, low graduation rates, and disciplinary problems. These problems can truly hinder the future of these schools and the students attending them, so they are placed on the academically unacceptable list; low performing schools list. Although those problems standout they are forming from smaller problems within the schools. Many of the schools on the low performing list lack in the quality and quantity of teachers and books. This causes students not to meet the expected standards on standardize tests. Low test scores can lead to high dropout rates and low graduation rates. Another small problem they face is overcrowded classrooms which bring along the huge number of discipline problems. It can add to the low test scores because teachers are often interrupted with discipline problems while trying to teach large classes. Students who have trouble grasping the concepts that the teacher is teaching and who are constantly involved in disciplinary cases often dropout of LPS. When public schools lose students the state officials cutback on the schools’ finances that they receive to fund the school.
Balfanz, R., Legters, N., West, T. C., & Weber, L. M. (2007). Are NCLB’s Measures, Incentives, and Improvement Strategies the Right Ones for the Nation’s Low-Performing High Schools?. American Educational Research Journal, 44(3), 559-593.
“Making the Grade,” which was published in the Salt Lake Tribune in September of this year, is an article arguing the negative sides of the No Child Left Behind Act. Through this article, a majority of the discussion regarded the budgeting involved with NCLB. This article calls No Child Left Behind a “one-size-fits-all formula for improving education in America” (Making the Grade). According to President Bush, the NCLB Act is “’the cornerstone’ of his administration” (Salt Lake Tribune). Like with any legislation, however, come both positive and negative sides.
As noted by the graph our standings in education is below average, especially with African Americans and Hispanic children compared to other states. If this is the outcome in elementary school what should we expect by grade 8. With all of the various reforms enacted throughout the 30 years the curriculum in public schools did not improve nor did our standing compared to the rest of the world. Even though in each presidency monitoring tool was developed to ascertain the level of learning based on the test. In states where students passing their test equated to more funding of the school as well as the school remains open, jobs for the educators. So oppose to teaching students the information needed educators taught to the test. This is due to politicians not addressing the core issues that prevent children in low social economic status of of color due to cultural biases. Then there is the political climate of education including ignorance towards the benefit of vocational schools and real world learning.
Conditions, Opportunities and Outcomes in California Public Schools. UCLA IDEA & UC/ACCORD, Jan. 2010. PDF.
Public schools today face several issues that affect the standard of education our children are receiving. They face issues such as teachers with limited experience. Budget cuts, dilapidated facilities, not enough teachers, and school violence, lack of parent participation, and
Jupp, B., & Education, T. (2009). What states can do to improve teacher effectiveness. K-12
Wasserman, Michael. 15 Techniques When Dealing With Customers. My Success Company. 25 January 2005. .
As Peter Duckers has put it, "The ultimate aim of all business organisation is - to create a customer". These days, for most products and services, the market belongs to the buyer. The customers e...