During the past several years, school systems have implemented a variety of organizational improvement initiatives, such as Six Sigma, Balanced Scorecards, Baldrige Criteria, activity-based costing, and managing for results. Unfortunately, evidence of sustained success is fleeting as school districts remain trapped in a time warp of command,…

Describes evaluation process based on principles of continuous improvement and quality management established by the superintendent of Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Texas. (PKP)

During the 1995-96 school year, the Savannah-Chatham County (Georgia) Public Schools averaged 800 daily telephone complaints about transportation. Applying total-quality-management principles improved client satisfaction via a Pareto problem analysis chart, a customer response data-collection team, and driver teams who strategized ways to reduce…

Describes Total Quality Management (TQM) techniques implemented at Waukesha County Technical College (Wisconsin). The CAUSES program focuses on customers, accountability, understanding, self-improvement, education, and searching. Describes application of TQM to the fixed-asset team project. Four figures are included. (LMI)

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a helpful tool to assist boards and administrators in improving schools. However, to leap into the quality movement without broad-based support and a critical mass of believers is risky. Presents 20 questions to answer before deciding to initiate TQM. (MLF)

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a process of continuous improvement where decisions are based on data. TQM works for those organizations that are prepared to make it work for them. Discusses seven common mistakes that many organizations make when implementing TQM. (MLF)

Operations research (OR) is the use of measurable interrelationships to explain the predictable links between measured phenomena and variable outcomes. Provides examples of OR techniques in school business management. (MLF)

A New York State school district opted to use total quality management techniques to improve the district's performance and gain public support. After defining four key measures and establishing standards of excellence for each, the district concerned itself with the first measure, proposing an affordable tax rate increase. The proposed budget was…

Explores the implementation of total quality management in the maintenance and operations department of an upstate New York school district. Four figures illustrate the problem-solving process. (MLF)

A strategy that has made total quality management work for many organizations involves the following six steps: vision, audit, plan, train, implement, and monitor. (MLF)

Education Alternatives, Inc., is under contract to the Baltimore City Public Schools (Maryland) to provide educational service to eight elementary and one middle school. A program called "Tesseract" uses a systemic approach to ensure continuous quality. (MLF)

Two school districts, Kennewick School District WA and Salem-Keizer School District OR, are leveraging their food service contractor's resources to establish work-based courses stressing sophisticated management, culinary, and life skills. Under these instructional partnerships, the contractor, cooperating with school officials, develops the…

A Colorado school district has adopted Total Quality Management (TQM) to improve quality and reduce costs. The basic components that drive continuous improvement in TQM are focusing on responding to customer needs, basing decisions on data, and allowing everyone to participate in the process. (MLF)

Describes how educators in the Pearl River School District, Pearl River, New York, have implemented Total Quality Management (TQM) principles to evaluate and improve their effectiveness. Includes two charts that depict key indicators of financial and academic performance and a seven-year profile of the district's budget, enrollment, diploma rate,…

In planning a new school and general remodeling and technology upgrades, the Oshkosh (Wisconsin) High School District used a variation of total quality management called Continuous Quality Improvement. The plan involved students, teachers, staff, parents, and members of the business community assisting in the school's design and selecting its…