Baldrige Awardees Include First in Education Category

Tthe five winners of the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's premier award for performance excellence and quality achievement, include, for the first time, three winners in the education category: 

• Chugach School District, Anchorage, Alaska (education). Chugach’s 214 students are scattered throughout 22,000 square miles of mostly isolated and remote areas of south central Alaska. A heavy reliance on technology and distance learning, education for Chugach students can occur 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Results on the California Achievement Tests improved in all content areas from 1995 to 1999. Average national percentile scores increased in reading from 28th to 71st, in language arts from 26th to 72nd, in math from 54th to 78th, and in spelling from 22nd to 65th. In addition, the percent of students in the top quartile increased in reading from 17 to 56, in language arts from 25 to 33, and in math from 42 to 79. 
• Pearl River School District, Pearl River, N.Y. (education). The percentage of students graduating with a Regents diploma, a key objective of Pearl River School District, increased from 63 percent in 1996 to 86 percent in 2001 while the socio-economic diversity within the student body was increasing. PRSD has reduced per pupil expenditures (PPE) 9 percent over the last 11 years (from $14,563 in 1990/1991 to $13,180 in 2000/2001) but remains on the high end of the range for comparative districts and benchmark districts. While PRSD students and parents have a choice of more than 80 private and parochial schools in the district's service area, PRSD has increased its market share (percentage of all students eligible to attend PRSD who actually enroll in the district) from 71 percent in 1990 to 90 percent in 2000. 
• University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wis. (education). UW-Stout's "Mission Driven-Market Smart" focus is aimed at developing students for careers in industry and education and has led to a graduate placement rate at or above 98 percent since 1996. All key processes, including strategic planning, program development, partnership building, and teaching and learning, are guided by this special mission. More than 68 percent of students have graduated with practical work experience through internships or co-ops, field experiences, and student teaching experiences. Employers have consistently rated 99 to 100 percent of Stout graduates as "prepared for work." 

Also receiving awards this year were Clarke American Checks, Inc. in San Antonio (manufacturing), and Pal's Sudden Service, Kingsport, Tenn. (a small business in the fast-food industry). 



Established in 1987, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is given to U.S organizations that have exemplary achievements in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results. The program is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the US Department of Commerce's Technology Administration, in conjunction with the private sector. 



More information on the program and this year's awardees is available at: http://www.quality.nist.gov/ and http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/g01-110.htm