Lean process improvement in education holds the greatest promise and shows the strongest results in K-12 schools. At this level, teachers have a lifelong impact on their students, who take what they’ve learned to the workplace, college and beyond. Below are several case studies showing the impact the application of Lean principles to K-12 education has had in the United States.
CASE STUDY CHALLENGES:
Case Study #1: Instructional time recovery to meet curricular goals
Case Study #2: Improve Math scores in a Title I school
Case Study #3: Improve student performance on standardized test scores
Case Study #4: Collaborative professional development
Case Study #5: Work space organization
Case Study #6: Improve student retention of academic knowledge at the classroom level
Case Study #7: Improve the Supply Procurement Process to Meet District Strategic and Funding Goals
Case Study #8: Improving Student Health and Attendance
Case Study #9: Meeting Math AYP Improvement Goals
Case Study #10: Meeting Standards to achieve 100% Accreditation
CASE STUDY #1
Challenge:
Recover lost instructional time to help teachers meet curriculum goals
Facility:
Small private middle school in a suburban metropolitan area
Project Summary:
Over the course of nine months, school staff used our Le2 Program to analyze the correlation between an annually diminishing ability to meet curriculum goals and increasing loss of instructional time. The project included staff interviews and data collection; categorization and prioritization of the sources of interruption; and development of a strategic plan and tactical plan for managing future invasions of instructional time.
Result:
The project resulted in the recovery of an average of 120 hours of instructional time per teacher over the nine month school year, higher levels of staff involvement in planning and scheduling at both the team and school level, and more comprehensive exposure and learning at the student level.
CASE STUDY #2
Challenge:
Determine the best instructional approach to improve math scores in a Title I school
Facility:
Large inner city public elementary school in a major metropolitan area
Project Summary:
This was a ten-month project to determine the instructional approach and teaching philosophy that would produce the most optimal student performance improvements in math at the 6th grade level in a school with a poor overall score on mandatory state achievement tests. Through staff interviews and teacher focus group discussions, our Lean approach helped the school to determine the most effective instructional approach. In addition, we guided the school through the design and creation of an assessment tool for measuring student improvement within the student test groups, collecting data, and conducting a comparative analysis of the student performance data.
Result:
The project resulted in the identification of an instructional approach that yielded significantly higher performance scores (average improvement – 116%; highest individual improvement – 343%) and was recommended for adoption school-wide.
CASE STUDY #3
Challenge:
Determine how to improve student academic achievement, specifically scores in short-cycle diagnostic tests that enable staff to revise and improve teaching methods and better prepare students for state achievement tests
Facility:
Large inner city public middle school in major metropolitan area that was in academic emergency
Project Summary:
Lean coaches led the school through the definition of the entire assessment process, cross-functional focus team discussions and collaboration to understand and streamline the process, and empirical measurements of student performance outcomes.
Result:
The project resulted in a common understanding of the limits of the remediation window, a reduction in results turn-around time, and the enabling of teachers to re-teach identified student areas of weakness. It culminated in measured improvement in student performance on achievement tests.
CASE STUDY #4
Challenge:
Develop a more standardized process for the school principal to monitor classrooms and record and share findings to improve overall instruction and preparation of students for state achievement tests
Facility:
Inner city elementary school in large metropolitan area
Project Summary:
Lean coaches led the creation of an assessment tool with which the principal can see teaching trends over time. This information was shared with teachers in weekly meetings and one-on-one conferences as part of the school-wide professional development and improvement effort.
Result:
The project resulted in self-reflective feedback for teachers that could be quickly implemented or fine-tuned to get immediate improvement results. This better prepared students to use higher order thinking skills required on the state achievement test.
CASE STUDY #5
Challenge:
Organize school office to maximize the efficient placement of items so that office personnel can accomplish all tasks without having to waste time and motion in getting materials
Facility:
Urban public elementary school
Project Summary:
The project involved a complete clean-out and re-organization of the office to facilitate access and flow. This included placement of furniture and supplies within the office area to meet task flow requirements, ergonomic assessment and location of materials, a visual labeling system to eliminate the need to search, and the removal of unnecessary items.
Result:
The project resulted in an efficiently designed school office that made a positive impression on visitors and parents and allowed office staff to complete tasks more quickly and efficiently.
CASE STUDY #6
Challenge:
Improve student retention of academic knowledge at the classroom level
Facility:
Private suburban K-8 school
Project Summary:
The project was undertaken by a single teacher who wished to improve student retention of material yet increase the rigor of the World Geography curriculum. It was executed over two years, and involved testing 25% of the students for retention of material twelve months after they had completed the class. The project involved load leveling of assignments and testing rather than relying on traditional methods, and a culminating knowledge competition of the test group competing against the current year’s World Geography students.
Result:
The test group retained 94% of the material covered the previous year as represented by their ability to successfully answer the competition questions.
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CASE STUDY #7
Challenge:
Create a district supply procurement system that reduced high soft-time and hard costs, ended supply shortages and failures, and satisfied all stakeholder needs.
Facility:
Public School District serving 5,300 students in a community of 34,000 residents.
Project Summary:
This project involved the identification, assessment, and improvement of the existing district supply procurement process and its integration within the district’s 13 schools. Applying their training in Process Improvement, project team members devised, secured, and assessed stakeholder feedback on the existing process, and developed a more user friendly and efficient system which was piloted with twenty stakeholders. The new system proved so effective that it was fully implemented district-wide.
Result:
The district reduced its supply budget by 39.6%, saving taxpayers $174,941 over three years – money then used to purchase over 200 computers and transferred to investments. The new system satisfied stakeholder needs, exceeded their expectations, approached zero waste, and generated nearly $15,000 in revenue/free products. It also allowed teachers to acquire resources in a timely fashion to meet ever-changing instructional needs.
CASE STUDY #8
Challenge:
Can facilities management and custodial care reduce the incidence of asthma, thereby positively impacting student attendance and learning?
Facility:
Urban school district
Project Summary:
This project started as an indoor air quality improvement initiative aligned with the District’s Strategic goal of providing a safe and caring environment with a specific aim of reducing the increased incidence of asthma in the student population. The facilities improvement team examined contributing factors to asthma. Their findings quickly expanded the scope of the original plan to include a comprehensive school chemical management program. They developed and implemented an improvement plan that included but was not limited to current and potential chemical hazard assessment, a chemical round- up and disposal effort, the formulation and implementation of a standard preventative approach and methodology to maintenance, the use of natural products whenever possible, reduction of school bus emissions due to idling, and the relentless search for and elimination of agents from the school and district environment that can compromise the health of employees and students.
Result:
The district has created a mercury-free environment for students and staff and has removed all other potential chemical hazards from every district building. It has adopted green cleaning and maintenance practices that have resulted in an annual savings in cleaning supplies of $15,000 and a healthier, chemical-free environment. Student attendance rates increased 3% within the first year.
CASE STUDY #9
Challenge:
Data tracking and analysis suggested that fifth grade math scores would not reach AYP targets by 2010. An instructional system to meet the mandate was needed.
Facility:
Suburban Elementary School
Project Summary:
A multi-grade level instructional team utilized Process Improvement Methods and Tools to determine areas of opportunity for instructional and learning improvement. They analyzed best practices, current data, and determined appropriate action. The developed project plan was collaboratively designed as well as delivered by the improvement team to provide continuous and consistent application of learning over grade levels, frequent formative assessment, and immediate response/remediation. The project spanned multiple years.
Result:
The new delivery system resulted in stable, consistent, focused and effective math instruction. Assessments and trend analysis indicated the goal would be met: 95% of fifth graders would master state assigned Math Standards (earn a score of “Proficient”).
CASE STUDY #10
Challenge:
To secure district-wide school accreditation by meeting or exceeding state accountability benchmarks
Facility:
Metropolitan public school district of 33 schools
Project Summary:
This project was implemented over two years. The improvement team used various data to analyze areas of deficiency in student learning as well identify students who were marginal in their mastery of the assessed skills to pinpoint schools in danger of not making accreditation. The team identified an intervention plan that included training and support of building leaders and the development and training of an extra-ordinary mobile teaching intervention team. The project also included the development of a teaching for effective learning plan which was collaboratively delivered by the intervention team and regular teaching staff. Continuous process improvement was done to refine the process and optimize results throughout its real time application. Once the program had demonstrated success in its pilot implementation phases, it was incorporated throughout the district.
Result:
After 10 weeks of implementing the improvement program, the accreditation rate jumped from a stagnant 82% to 88% and a year later to 100% (all 33 schools were accredited). Notable accreditation accomplishments included 147 perfect scores in 4th grade reading, an overall gain of 28% in 7th grade math (from 43% -71%), more than 90% passing English at all four high schools.
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