Missouri wants to be MCPS

Improve education with Baldrige program, $1 million gift : Stltoday

For instance, the Montgomery County schools in Maryland insist that by using the Baldrige Criteria, they have embarked on a “journey of continuous improvement that has produced the school system’s outstanding academic and operational results.” This includes a low employee turnover rate. In 2009, the teacher turnover rate was 12.2 percent below the national average; in 2010, Education Week cited Montgomery County schools as having the highest graduation rate of any large public school system in the country. Furthermore, classroom results are outstanding: From 2007 to 2009, the percentage of middle school students earning a proficient or advanced score in reading comprehension increased significantly, with gains of more than 13 percentage points for African-American (13.3 percentage points) and Hispanic (13.5 percentage points) students.
Moreover, Montgomery County schools have a strategic plan that aligns goals from the district level to the classrooms, with each student charting her or his own progress.
By applying the Baldrige Criteria, we can have this kind of success in Missouri school districts, too.