The hallways are busy - bulletin boards and data centers are being put up, an equal amount of excitement and groans can be heard from classrooms. Teachers are back busy preparing for the new group of students and making plans for the school year!

It is also time to remind ourselves....."Why Quality and Continuous Improvement?" What would you include? ...a changing world, today's students need a different set of skills for the 21st century work place, to implement a systematic approach to closing the achievement gap, to measure student achievement and effectiveness of teaching, to determine equity and to uncover what and how students are learning or failing... the list could go on.

The key words in answering the question "Why Quality and Continuous Improvement are systematic and systemic. Systematic defined as a methodical, planned, ordered, step-by-step procedure that can be repeated. Systemic means that the process is embedded, aligned and impact the entire organization. I often use this Margaret Byrnes quote from the book The Principal's Leadership Counts! Launch a Baldrige-Based Quality School.

Deciding to enter into a quality process in education is not because good things are not happening but because of a desire to have good things happen regularly, consistently, and predictable at every level of the school system. Random acts of excellence have little effect on the desired strategic results.

If we truly want success for every student - "Excellence for All" we must thoughtfully and thoroughly dig deep into our current philosophy, instructional practices and methods. We must use systems thinking to determine the current state for all students: those who struggle, those who are progressing as expected and those students who have advanced skills. Many of you practicing quality in your school have probably made the connection to the plan-do-study-act cycle. Join us in future blog entries as we explore the how-to of implementing a systematic and systemic process for moving your school and your classroom to one of excellence for all.

Thanks- Becky