TRUMBULL COUNTY Baldrige program designed to improve school districts

Performance categories include leadership and faculty and staff focus.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County school districts will have an opportunity to learn a program to improve education.
Elizabeth Ross, superintendent of the Trumbull County Educational Service Center, said the center started implementing the Baldrige in Education Initiative about a year ago when the Ohio Department of Education announced its use of the standards.
"It's a national process to recognize improvement in education," said Patti Grey, an ODE spokeswoman.
She said there's no requirement for school districts to implement the program.
"It's one more avenue in education that has proved to be helpful, and the Ohio Department of Education is role modeling it by using it ourselves," Grey said.
Goals defined: The state program's goals include assuring high achievement for all learners, fostering the ability to learn and supporting continually improving systems of learning.
The state's program is based on the Baldrige National Quality Program, established in 1987, which provides a framework for companies and organizations to evaluate themselves in several areas. The education category was added in 1999.
Performance indicators in the education category include leadership, faculty and staff focus, and organizational performance results.
"It sets up a framework for high performance," Ross said.
The program provides a list of questions in each of the categories.
Under the leadership category, for example, it asks for a description of how senior leaders communicate values, direction and expectations, said Jan Kosko, a spokeswoman for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
"It keeps asking questions and if there's something that you can't answer, that tells you that's something you really should be paying attention to," she said.
NIST, based in Gaithersburg, Md., is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce and it manages the Baldrige program.
Training offered: In June, the educational service center is offering Baldrige training for all the county's school districts. The registration deadline isn't until June, so Ross couldn't say what districts will be included. Warren and Niles school districts plan to participate.
"One of the things is aligning your organization's goals -- making sure everyone is on the same page," Ross said.
The importance of shared leadership and decision-making among employees and supervisors also is stressed through the program.
"Employees are important stakeholders in an organization and an important part in the operation of an organization," Ross said.
The educational service center established a 25-member team to implement the Baldrige program, which is named after Malcolm Baldrige, who served as U.S. Commerce Secretary from 1981 to 1987.