Strengthening Quality in Schools (SQS) has been implemented in phases since 1992 with a team of six members attending approximately 10 days of training. Demand for SQS training continues to grow, especially with the strong support of the current governor and the Public Education Department (PED). SQS continues to expand with a stronger emphasis on building capacity and self-sufficiency within the district and schools by providing on-site training and coaching on a systems approach to continuous improvement at the district, school, deparment, goal team, and classroom levels.
As part of the Governor's Business Executives for Education (GBEE) statewide expansion plan, SQS selected four districts to become Regional Quality Centers (RQC) in Fall of 2005. Six Baldrige Pilot Districts and 12 Pilot Demonstration Schools began their full district deployment journey in Fall 2007. Continued deployment efforts at the district, school, classroom level, and student levels are supported by training and coaching Site Quality Coaches and Principals to build internal capacity and by establishing Goal Teams at all SQS sites.
Over 500 schools in 73 districts have participated in SQS workshops since 1992 with the goal of touching all schools in the state, especially those Priority Schools identified by PED as a School in Need of Improvement. SQS has seen dramatic improvement in many schools that implemented continuous improvement concepts, the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle and the Baldrige Education Criteria with fidelity and leadership support throughout all systems in their school or district.