The Concepts of Quality for Rural and Small School Decision Makers.

This report briefly introduces the ideas of six influential individuals in the field of quality control, and relates these concepts to current educational innovations. Quality is defined by Philip B. Crosby as the result of a culture of relationships within an organization. W. Edwards Deming espouses intrinsic motivation for all employees, consistency of purpose, and consistent quality improvement. Armand V. Feigenbaum proposes integrating quality development, maintenance, and improvement efforts of groups within an organization. Kaoru Ishikawa emphasizes full participatory management. Joseph M. Juran stresses the "project approach" wherein solution schedules are developed as problems are identified. Taiichi Ohno's contribution is to eliminate waste in the deployment of people by developing teams and team leaders. The point is made that systems do not operate in isolation from their host communities. Dr. Deming's PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) cycle is used as an example of a quality process. Seven basic quality control tools and seven management and planning tools are described that help people organize and analyze facts, opinions, and political realities as part of the decision-making process. Total Quality Management is used to examine recent educational initiatives: site-based decision making, effective schools, strategic planning, outcome-based education, and contract schools. The 1993 work "Toward Quality in Education the Leaders' Odyssey," developed by the National LEADership Network study group on restructuring schools, places Deming's 14 points under 8 headings and compares varied educational innovations and initiatives in that context. The total systems approach is urged as the tie used to interface innovations and initiatives that schools and school districts adopt. This paper contains 89 references. (RAH)