Peggy Siegel, Director,
Business/Education Leadership Initiatives
National Alliance of Business
Dancing with the Bear is a synopsis of the lessons learned when state and local educators began to work together, using the Baldrige framework to transform education in order to improve student achievement and meet increased state and federal accountability standards. This publication, prepared by Peggy Siegel (Director, Business/ Education Leadership Initiatives) National Alliance of Business captures the experiences and lessons of six state leadership teams that used Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to focus and align their state’s improvement efforts.
In mid 1999, 26 national business and
education organizations, co-led by the National Alliance of Business (NAB) and
the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) launched BiE IN, the Baldrige
in Education Initiative.
BiE IN had three main objectives in working with states to pilot the reform initiative:
Forge a partnership among leading national business and education organizations to build awareness and support for using Baldrige in education;
Partner with a group of states to expedite implementation and lessons learned; and
Target materials and assistance on meeting the needs of key stakeholder groups involved in such efforts.
Seventeen states sent in letters of intent to apply, 11 states submitted applications, and six states (Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, New Mexico, and Texas) were selected as BiE IN partners. This document highlights their activities and lessons learned!