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Illinois School Board Journal
March/April 2007
Raising achievement via a business model
by Rolf A. Sivertsen
Rolf Sivertsen is principal of Midland High School in Midland CUSD 7, Varna, Illinois, and an Education Specialist degree candidate at Western Illinois University.
When school board members at a recent workshop were asked, "How many of you are running your school district like a business?" very few participants raised their hands. But when asked, "How many of you would like to see your school district run like a business?" nearly all raised their hands, indicating they would like to see business practices incorporated into the administration of their school districts.
Probably every school board member in Illinois has, at least once, heard the phrase: "Schools should be run like a business!" However, can school districts adopt business practices and still maintain or improve student achievement?
Without a doubt, the answer is yes. But what does a school district/business model look like?
Many school administrators are deeply suspicious when asked to incorporate business practices to facilitate district improvement. "We are not making widgets!" or "We are dealing with human beings, not objects!" are the most common responses. Both statements are excuses that imperil school districts and the quality of instruction.
Globally competitive corporations now place a high emphasis on ways to improve communication that will stimulate ideas and thoughts within their organizations. Fortune 500 companies like Caterpillar have created "Quality Circles" to stimulate organizational ideas. Likewise, General Electric has implemented the Six Sigma program to encourage product improvements and trim overhead costs.
In contrast, what strategies are school districts implementing to improve communication among stakeholders and to stimulate meaningful ideas? Equally important, what does the organizational structure look like for a district that has implemented business practices?
Multi-divisional organizational structure
Like corporations, schools can benefit from a multi-divisional organizational structure. Many large urban school districts, not unlike Caterpillar or General Electric, have altered their bureaucratic structures to create learning teams or quality circles in a drive to stimulate the development of ideas and learning strategies.
In 2003, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), along with 15 other large urban districts, partnered with the Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Education to develop and implement a management model within their districts. The partnership, dubbed the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP), resulted in a highly collaborative environment with all stakeholders (parents, teachers, board members and administrators), a multi-divisional organizational structure, a focus on teaching and a drastic change in instructional culture.
As a result, CPS has experienced a dramatic increase in standardized student achievement. Between 2001 and 2005, reading achievement scores increased an average of 8.9 percent in the third, fifth and eighth grades. In contrast, statewide reading scores experienced an average increase of only 5 percent. Likewise, during the same time period, third-, fifth- and eighth-grade math scores within CPS increased an average of 11 percent, while statewide scores increased by just 7.2 percent.
That's all well and good for a large, urban district, you might say. But what would a multi-divisional structure look like and how would it perform within a small, rural school district?
Consider a school board that has created district goals and is moving into an implementation/attainment phase. Assuming that the board has reorganized the district into divisions, if a multi-divisional structure is present, the board will have the ability to direct district learning teams or quality circles to provide and implement goal attainment strategies based on proven research.
The learning teams at the building level would be accountable to a curriculum council at the elementary, middle school or high school level. Those three councils, in turn, are accountable to a district curriculum council, which is accountable to the board.
This scenario is valid since it increases accountability with all stakeholders, encourages a thought process, an assumption of risk and a culture of change. Equally important, like contemporary corporations, schools should also incorporate a continuous district-wide improvement program to advocate a culture of change.
The Kaizen concept
Kaizen is a Japanese management concept that advocates continuous organizational improvement. Literally, Kaizen means "continuous improvement," taken from words "Kai" meaning "continuous" and "Zen" meaning "improvement." Some translate "Kai" as "change" and "Zen" to mean "good," or "for the better."
The concept recognizes that any organization has problems and must establish a culture where everyone can freely admit problems and failures, and suggest improvements. In addition, Kaizen views problem solving as a cross-functional, systemic and collaborative approach. Kaizen is based on five basic elements:
One way to implement Kaizen within any organization is through the management model Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA). PDSA is a cyclical four-stage, continuous improvement model created in 1924 by physicist, engineer and statistician Walter Shewhart, a native of New Canton, Illinois. PDSA was originally implemented to improve quality control and reduce variations in the manufacturing process. The following is an in-depth description of the PDSA process:
Plan - During the project or transition stage, the team assesses the current system, plans activities, defines the current situation or system, and gathers benchmark data.
Do - In this stage, the business processes drafted in the plan stage are implemented, on a small scale at first.
Study - The measurements and overall operation of the organizational component(s) derived from the "Do" stage are analyzed, reported and evaluated against organizational objectives and goals.
Act - The results of the "Study" stage are used to determine additional organizational change. If the changes have produced meaningful results, they are evaluated for organization-wide implementation. After this stage has been completed, the entire cycle is reinstituted or other areas of concern are visited for possible improvement using PDSA.
Will it work?
But the question remains, can management practices really increase student achievement?
Current research indicates that adoption of these business practices do increase student achievement — as demonstrated in Chicago Public Schools.
There can be little doubt that implementing a multi-divisional organizational structure, combined with a continuous school improvement model and a strong instructional leader, would alter traditional educational practices.
With current accountability mandates, it is more important than ever for schools to change the way they operate. Equally important, creating a focus on teaching and learning within the educational organization — which is what adoption of business practices can do — should be a priority of any school district.