Doing More with Less – Going Lean in Education
LEAN PROCESS IMPROVEMENT IS APPLICABLE TO EDUCATION
“Education” is the term used to collectively describe the SYSTEM OF PROCESSES involved in providing and supporting the development of knowledge, skill, and reasoning in a student or student community. In fact, every job in education from student through superintendent is defined by the processes of that individual’s responsibilities. Processes make up the education service.
EXAMPLES OF REPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL PROCESSES
Accounting/Business Management/Payroll
Budgeting
Certification
Communications
Community Education
Conferences
Custodial/Maintenance
Due Process
Emergency Procedures
Field Trips/Activities/Camps
Food Service
Fundraisers
Grade Level/Team/Classroom
Learning
Mentor
Negotiations
Office
Parent/Community Involvement
Personnel/Human Resources
Referrals/Child Study
Report Cards/Student Data Management
Reporting
Special Education
Student Registration
Teaching and Instruction
Technology
Testing
Transportation
Education is a system full of processes. That means that every school and school district abounds
with process improvement opportunities, opportunities not only to improve service and performance,
but to reduce the associated costs of waste. And, yes, waste is incredibly costly.
Process waste directly causes:
Inefficiency in education spending , diminished performance, process delays, number of meetings,
re-scheduled meetings , variation in the quality of the process outcome, increased costs, greater %
of budget needed just to maintain status quo, unnecessary consumption of resources, communication
redundancies and inefficiencies
Process Improvement offers schools the opportunity to realise their full potential, to maximise
Education, service delivery and support.
Improve student achievement and without spending more money. Successful educators in today’s world are those who meet its challenge.
Lean will teach kids self-discipline (5S), problem-solving, waste reduction and rules of leadership
Any system based on Lean is ultimately a creative operation. It is a system that creates value for
its customers, both internal and external, and for society as a whole.
A Lean school system respects, involves, and serves all of its people, its community, and the environment. A CORE TENET OF LEAN IS IMPROVING PEOPLE FIRST – it values growth and satisfaction.
Every person – not just students - learns and improves every day in an environment of trust and
stability, thus promoting high performance. A Lean School is a place that everyone wants to be
part of and support – students, staff, parents, and community members alike.
A Lean School System pursues a common vision and clear goals that everyone both owns and
understands. It anticipates, identifies and solves problems throughout the workplace. It
effectively and efficiently produces and delivers quality education goods and services to meet
customer demand.
A Lean school system is stable yet flexible. It is responsive. If facilitates open and multidirectional communication. It engenders positive image, cooperation, teamwork, and success. A
Lean school demonstrates a CAN-DO attitude and a track record of improvement. It promotes
not only the use of best practices, but their discovery and development
Challenges:
Expand Services
Improve Student Performance
Meet Workplace Requirements
Streamline Processes
LEAN MANAGEMENT IN SCHOOLS
Lean Management is not a new concept, but it is new for the education industry. There is no question that differences exist between the products of a manufacturing assembly line and those of an education service. But a huge similarity exists in the delivery systems of these organisations, delivery systems made up of thousands of complex processes. As such, many
aspects of Toyota’s process improvement methodologies and other Lean tools can and do apply to improving the processes of delivering education.
Forward thinking educators recognise both the application and the implications Lean has for improving their school operations and program outcomes. The consistency with which Lean has delivered such improvements in every industry that has applied them demonstrates the universality of its principles. Lean Process Improvement, even in its limited introduction within
Education, has resulted in increased performance with cost savings.
Lean school cultures promote a positive CAN-DO attitude, greater involvement and vested ownership in improving processes that support student learning.
School leaders determined to meet today’s challenge of doing more with less should give Lean Process Improvement close consideration. It is an effective way for schools to develop and deliver world-class education
with currently available funding.
Lean experts can be found with impressive credentials and years of experience guiding process improvement efforts in manufacturing and service businesses. However, unlike products or services that are produced or delivered in assembly line fashion, students are not designed to be replicas of each other. Nor do they flow through a production or service line one at a time.
Only experienced educators can fully comprehend the numerous variables that affect an individual student’s learning and how those variables affect the end product – an educated human being ready for work, higher education, and competition in a global economy.
CASE STUDY 1
Facility: Small private school
Project: Instructional time loss analysis and recovery plan development
Project Summary:
This was a nine-month time-management improvement project to determine the current state and causes of instructional time invasion based on staff observations of annually diminishing ability to meet curriculum goals. The project included staff interviews and data collection to gather the required information, categorisation and prioritisation of the sources of interruption, and development of both a strategic plan and a tactical plan for managing future invasions of instructional time.
Results:
The project resulted in the recovery of an average of 120 hours of instructional time per teacher, higher levels of staff cooperation in planning and scheduling at both the team and school level,
and more comprehensive exposure and learning at the student level.
CASE STUDY 2
Facility: Large inner city public school
Project:
Determination of how to improve student academic achievement, specifically test scores on short-cycle diagnostic tests that enable staff to revise and improve teaching methods and better prepare students for state achievement tests
Project Summary:
The project included the definition of the entire assessment process, cross functional focus team discussions and collaboration to understand and streamline the entire process, and empirical measurements of the student performance outcomes.
Results:
The project resulted in a common understanding of the limits of the re-mediation window, a reduction in the results turn-around time, and enabling of teachers to re-teach identified student
areas of weakness. This culminated in the improvement of student performance on achievement tests.
Sources from which the above information was compiled:
