Purpose: Primary education (PE) forms the foundation of high-quality education systems, but it is often underestimated. This paper aims to develop and empirically validate a measurement instrument to study the current stage of total quality management (TQM) implementation in PE. Design/methodology/approach: This study developed a seven-dimensional…

Although initially utilized in business and industrial environments, quality management systems can be adapted into higher education to assess and improve an institution's standards. These strategies are now playing a vital role in educational areas such as teaching, learning, and institutional-level practices. However, quality management tools…

This is the first report from an ongoing study of four urban school districts (New York, New Orleans, Chicago, and the District of Columbia) that are experimenting with new school designs and new ways of holding schools accountable for performance. This report introduces the idea of a "portfolio school district," and shows how some leading school…

Increasingly, higher education institutions are using Total Quality Management (TQM) as a vehicle for delivering cost-effective programs and services. The TQM philosophy is that quality can be improved by ceaselessly improving the processes that support the institution's mission. TQM is applicable to institutional research and planning as well as…

A case study was done of how Total Quality Management (TQM) was used in a Masters in Business Administration program to prevent rule infractions rather than to punish students. The program allowed students to take up to 20 hours of classes under an unclassified status before they took an admissions test. In order to continue, however, students…

This evaluation guide resulted from a 2-year project that conducted literacy audits at 10 manufacturing companies, assessed 3,291 workers, developed customized assessments and curricula, and provided 104 courses to 948 participants in the Chicago area. The guide is a hands-on resource to assist companies, unions, or educational agencies in setting…

The Veterans Health Administration (VA) provides a case study for linking performance measurement, information technology, and aligned research efforts to facilitate quality improvement in a large, complex health system. Dialogue between clinical researchers and VA leaders occurs through structured activities (e.g., the Quality Enhancement…

Total Quality Management methods can build on conventional performance indicators to enhance their usefulness in monitoring and improving quality and effectiveness in higher education institutions. Experience with these methods at colleges and universities, particularly in several academic and administrative areas at Pennsylvania State University,…

In the context of the discipline of quality control, this paper identifies many of the tools which may reinvigorate the statistical and graphical toolkits in higher education. Certain statistical and graphical issues are discussed by means of examples and hypothetical situations, and techniques are introduced that have application for the pursuit…

Organizational learning is a strong candidate to replace reengineering as the next intellectual bastion on the continuously twisting road to increased organizational productivity. However, there is a paucity of research on how transferring intellectual materials via groupware products fosters organizational learning. This book provides a first…

Responding to the call for higher education to adopt a new paradigm in managing its administrative processes, an Institutional Research Office at Delaware County Community College (DCCC) in Pennsylvania made a two-year effort to use a Total Quality approach in its management. Total Quality Management is a Japanese movement based on the teachings…

Total Quality Management (TQM), a technique traditionally reserved for the manufacturing sector, has recently spread to service companies, government agencies, and educational institutions. TQM places responsibility for quality problems with management rather than on the workers. A principal concept of TQM is the management of Process Variation,…

Criticizes the adoption of business-originated Total Quality Management principles into school administration. Contrasts this with the establishment of learning communities, an approach that emphasizes engendering commitments in individuals as opposed to manipulation or control. Further outlines this approach and describes several successful…

In college administration, a climate for adaptive change should be created using the philosophy, processes, and tools of Total Quality Management in combination with other management innovations. An enterprise-wide infrastructure for distributing information on demand for decision makers to monitor institutional performance should be built.…

Discussion of quality assurance in colleges and universities looks at theories and definitions of quality; four approaches to quality (traditional peer review, the assessment-and-outcomes movement, the Total Quality Management movement, and accountability and performance indicator reporting); the moral and ethical dimensions of quality; and ideals…