Education

New Baldrige Award in Education Honors Alaska, New York Districts

By Rhea R. Borja — December 12, 2001 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Two school districts and a university were named last week as the first education winners in the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award competition.

The three education honorees are the 214-student Chugach school district in Anchorage, Alaska; the 2,460-student Pearl River district in Rockland County, N.Y.; and the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, Wis.

The Baldrige awards—established by Congress in 1987 and named for the 26th U.S. secretary of commerce—recognize companies and organizations in the categories of manufacturing, small business, the service sector, health care, and now education. Recipients are judged to have achieved excellence in leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and results.

Thirty-seven education organizations have applied for the award since 1999, the year education became a category. But this is the first year education organizations were deemed worthy of the honor. All applicants undergo 300 to 1,000 hours of review by an independent examining board.

“They will be outstanding role models for 21st- century education organizations,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans said of the honorees in a statement last week. “If we succeed in educating our youth, many other successes will follow.”

‘Still in Shock’

Alaska’s Chugach district, where 50 percent of students are Native Alaskan and 76 percent live in poverty, formed the Reinventing Schools Coalition to improve academic achievement. Since the program was started in 1998, the percentage of students taking college-entrance exams has increased from zero to 70 percent, and students’ scores on the California Achievement Tests have gone up.

“We’re still in shock—we haven’t recovered yet,” Superintendent Richard DeLorenzo said after learning his district had been honored. “This recognition will help us replicate what we’ve done. I hope this will inspire others to reinvent their school districts.”

Meanwhile, the Pearl River district has used a “continuous improvement” business model to raise student achievement there, said Sandra Cokely Pedersen, the quality and community-relations director for the New York district.

Since 1989, the percentage of students graduating with an academically rigorous state regents’ diploma has jumped from 32 percent to 86 percent.

“We knew [our program] worked, but it was wonderful to get outside validation,” Ms. Pedersen said. “We’ve built a formalized structure that has helped our district go from mediocre to world-class in the past 10 years.”

A version of this article appeared in the December 12, 2001 edition of Education Week as New Baldrige Award in Education Honors Alaska, New York Districts

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
Promoting Integrity and AI Readiness in High Schools
Learn how to update school academic integrity guidelines and prepare students for the age of AI.
Content provided by Turnitin

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 19, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Quiz How Much Do You Know: Ed. Dept.'s Mass Layoffs and More This Week
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Illustration of 2 hands cutting paper dolls with scissors, representing staffing layoffs.
iStock/Getty
Education Briefly Stated: March 12, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Quiz How Much Do You Know: Ed. Dept.'s ‘End DEI’ Website and More
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Illustration of one man speaking into a speech bubbles which shows the letters "DEI" and another man on a ladder painting over the speech bubble as a way to erase it.
Gina Tomko/Education Week + DigitalVision Vectors