Many people are familiar with Dr. Holliday’s blog that is available on the I-SS web site but while searching on the Internet I happened to find another blog written by Dr. Holliday. This blog is hosted on the American Society for Quality (ASQ). I want to thank the person who referenced the ASQ web site in a comment to my blog post Baldrige Award, Bought and Paid For. That person was relating a comment about Baldrige that was part of one of the discussion boards on the ASQ site. That led me to Dr. Holliday’s blog, which is on a different part of the ASQ web site. Here is a link to Dr. Holliday’s ASQ blog.
Leadership in Continuous Improvement
Dr. Holliday’s first post on his ASQ blog is dated September 17, 2008. In that post Dr. Holliday makes the following statement.
First of all, let me be clear. Iredell-Statesville Schools is a Baldrige district. We have been recognized at the state level with awards and at the national level through Baldrige National site visits. Recently we were notified that we would receive a site visit toward the end of October. I will blog about our experience with state and national site visits.
In a post dated, February 4, 2009, Dr. Holliday makes the following statement.
I am always amazed at educators. We are always looking for the silver bullet. What I know to be reality is that there are no silver bullets. If you want to improve education, you must improve the teaching and learning process that creates the results for student achievement. I watch as many school systems are always launching a new initiative. I see some new curriculum. A new on-line assessment system. A one-to-one lap project. A new software program. Incentive pay programs. The list is mindless and very expensive. But most of all, in the end, how does anyone really know whether something worked or it did not work.
These seem like two very contradictory statements. First, Dr. Holliday emphasizes his Baldrige initiative as if it was the silver bullet and then he turns around and says there are no silver bullets in education. If there are no silver bullets in education, why did Dr. Holliday force I-SS to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement the Baldrige plan? Why did Dr. Holliday force all I-SS employees to march in goose-step to his dictates? Why was it always his way or the highway? Or perhaps, do you think that Dr. Holliday is starting to see the errors of his way? I don’t think so. Dr. Holliday’s ego seems to be too big for him to ever admit he was wrong.
We will all have to remain vigilant as I-SS goes forward without Dr. Holliday. We have to make sure that the Baldrige bullet is safely discarded before it does any more harm. I-SS has to find a new focus and that focus must be on the students. As I have mentioned before, I do think we will see some changes once Brady Johnson officially takes on the role of interim superintendent. However, as has been mentioned in some of the comments to other posts on this blog, Brenda Clark seems to be intent on keeping things as they are now and Mrs. Holliday may continue in her administrative position. As I, and others, have mentioned before, we cannot let our guard down. The contact information for each School Board member is in a previous post on this blog. Call, write, or e-mail the Board members and let them know that we want a school system that values all of its employees and one that enables each student to excel.
What we need is an "enviromental scan" regarding Baldrige and the Baldrige staff. What a concept! We could use parts of the system to rid ourselves of the very system.
ReplyDeleteAlso from the ASQ blog:
ReplyDeleteTerry Holliday
Re: Progression from state to national Baldrige programs
Posted: Feb 7, 2008 9:05 AM Reply
Our school system was the one educational organization to receive a national site visit last year. We had a 5 year progression to get to this point that include 3 levels of application at the state level and 2 national applications. I would be happy to share the "horror" and the "joy" of the journey. We are currently working on our the next step in our journey - resubmit to national level.
The "horror" and the "joy" of the journey? I think we call speak to that regarding Hollidays tenure at ISS and his departure.
A lot of interesting info linked with ASQ
ReplyDeleteFor three days (two of them school days) this past November, seven I-SS administrators went to a resort Reno, for what it looks like was to "preach the gospel of Baldrige" ...
http://nqec.asq.org/2008/program/sunday.html
Wondering, just exactly how did this expenditure benefit I-SS students?
*Reno resort
ReplyDeleteWhat about their upcoming trip to Houston?
ReplyDeleteWhen is the BoE going to step in and start questioning/stopping all of this waste?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.apqc.org/portal/apqc/site?path=/aboutus/GraysonMedal/current-grayson-medal-quality-award-nomination.html
ReplyDeleteDoes it make you wonder why the SR&L did not report the accomplishments of Holliday and his group to the public of Iredell? How much more will be uncovered? Hopefully, the BOE can begin to understand the resentment.
ReplyDeleteHis last I-SS blog was July 10. It will be interesting if he does another; and if so, I wonder what the topic will be.
ReplyDeleteWow, those APQC people are really are quality...I didn't know that Iredell-Statesville Schools was in Brevard, NC! Guess I'll have to get some new address stickers.
ReplyDeletesee --> July 26, 2009 5:23 PM post
Just wondering...does anyone know if any of the BOE members have read any of this information that has been posted? If not, they need to be! Otherwise, this is all written/shared in vain if they're the ones to make the final decisions regarding a new superintendent. They need to be well-informed and if they're not reading or receiving some of these facts, we may be disappointed again.
ReplyDelete"I-SS has to find a new focus and that focus must be on the students."
ReplyDeleteHow exactly do you propose that more emphasis be placed on students? This sytem is so focused on the students. I hear you talking, but what do you have that's better? As a parent, I am more concerned about my child, and they have been enormously successful and I am happy with the education they have received. Their success has them focused and excited on the year to come. Instead of complaining and making general statements like those above, what do you suggest be done to keep the focus on students? From what I see on this blog the focus here is only on teachers, not students.
Sorry, I don't believe you!
ReplyDeleteAnd your proposal to improve student focus is what? More generalities. If you want the majority of IC citizens to join you, and you will need that if you want change, you will need some more specifics. So far, I've seen nothing on here as far as solutions to addressing student needs, which is what matters. All I hear is stop Baldrige and ISS will be better. What do you have to make the system better? My children are depending on you.
ReplyDeleteAre you really into your child, or into Dr. Holliday? Too many of us can see through him now!
ReplyDeleteThe biggest factor in a student's education is a quality, enthusiastic teacher. Many teachers dislike the Baldrige program, and, many, like myself find that more time is spent testing versus teaching, and doing paperwork versus planning. This is frustrating, and it makes teachers want to either just go through the motions of their job because enthusiasm is hard to come by, move to another county where they don't use this program, or quit teaching all together. So, if the biggest indicator for a child's success is the teacher, then parents, you should make sure you have the most motivated and excited teachers to teach your children. I have children, and trust me, that's what I want for them. You won't get those type of teachers in this atmosphere, and if you do, they won't last long; teaching has the highest turn-over rate as far as professions are concerned.
ReplyDeleteAlso, testing in Baldrige puts the focus on multiple choice tests. You can't test writing skills through multiple choice. So, that gets shoved to the side in lieu of easy data. Also, when it comes to math tests, students work backwards on problems, which will bite them in the butt when they get to Algebra II and advanced math classes; suddenly they'll start doing poorly and you'll think "but they did so well last year!." The focus has to be on LEARNING not testing. Also, anyone can dumb down a test to get the data to look good. You can't dumb down life, and that's the main problem.
Furthermore, the Baldrige program makes a lot of money for the people selling it. However, the bottom line is, only the people who don't deal with actual teaching are buying it. I can tell you the physics of what it takes to do a triple jump on ice skates, but I can't do one. That's this program. Nobody talks the talk AND walks the walk. So, let the people who get out there and jump make the decisions on what the program around those jumps are going to look like in their classrooms. Because, ultimately, I don't see anybody selling this program deciding that they can't wait to take it back into the classroom and unleash their passion on the kids of ISS. Why? Because the grunt workers don't make the big bucks; the people selling the scheme are the ones who do.
Well said!
ReplyDeleteI hope the person commenting above who obviously supports Baldrige ( for whatever the ACTUAL reason may be) will read the letter written by the first grade teacher in New Mexico
here's the site:
http://nm.aft.org/mcfuse/index.cfm?action=cat&categoryID=92d355b3-fc24-48c4-8310-4a2100c154e3
My children are college bound. I hate that there is such an emphasis on testing. But, it is ultimately a test that decides if they get into MCC or UNC or Harvard or not at all. It is not grades. Yes, when all students have straight A's, what do the colleges look at? It is the SAT. It is a test. Been that way for years and not going to change. Hate testing, but don't see that changing. My children can come home and tell me what they are doing and why they are doing it and what goals they need to work on. I did not see that before. I find that pretty powerful. I support only what is best for my children, whether Baldridge, Johnsonridge, Klaenerige or some other system that gets results. In our world, it is all about the results. I have no doubt in my mind that happy people can garner short-term results. That is a well-documented fact and I support any morale suggestion that comes forward from Mr. Johnson. After that, what then is pushing ISS so my child will be pushed? That is my ACTUAL concern, moving backwards in the face of results. I apologize that you find it so difficult to believe that parents would be concerned about their children. I don't mean to pry, but these are the answers I am interested in from the next Superintendent.
ReplyDeleteLet's see how your kids do on the SAT. It's about writing and reasoning, both of which usually take a back seat in classrooms today. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThere is a growing segment of colleges and universities that do NOT consider the SAT's for admission. North Carolina's own Wake Forest is one of them. Slowly, but surely it appears that high stakes testing for college/university admission may be dwindling, at least somewhat.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say that over-testing students throughout their elementary, middle and secondary school years will increase their SAT scores. In fact, logic dictates that over-testing in lower education could very well have a seriously negative effect on how students view testing, and --- due to the sheer number of tests a student takes in their lower education years --- the importance that they assign ALL tests might well be diminished.
For the poster who wanted to know how getting rid of Baldrige will help students, here is a really simple solution. Take the IF's at each school, and use them as tutors. Have them spend their days pulling small groups and working with them. This will improve education and help keep teachers from losing jobs. They are already being paid. Let the central office personnel who were hired to do Baldrige be the ones who keep schools up to date on state mandates and take care of testing and data management.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Janey!!
ReplyDelete