Applying Baldrige: Des Moines Public Schools – Lincoln High School

Brittany Oakley
EDL 272: Organizational System Behavior
Dr. Doug Stilwell
February 13, 2021
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Organizational Profile

What are your key organizational characteristics?

Lincoln High School (Lincoln) utilizes its diverse population to provide rigorous and

relevant educational experiences and services for its customers. The customers, or students,

parents, and community members, utilize many of the resources that Lincoln provides to support

educational and personal needs. Furthermore, the 124 certified staff and 50 classified staff

members work to uphold the core values to include the community and common collectives

which embrace the building mission within the classroom.

Lincoln’s mission is “To empower all student by providing rigorous and relevant

experiences in preparation for success in a global society.” The vision is, “Become a community

leader in urban education.” The community focus is empowered through the core values of the

staff:

“We believe in high expectations for all students without exception.

We believe students learn in different ways and in different time frames.

We believe our school community is responsible for equity.

We believe in supporting all students in overcoming past and present obstacles to achieve

success.

We believe involvement in school and community activities inspires creativity, positive

behavior, and fosters a sense of belonging.”

Staff are asked prior to each meeting to reflect on the value they were focusing on and the value

that has been a struggle for them. The values were developed and agreed upon by staff and they
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are present in each room and apart of the building culture. Furthermore, they aid in embracing

and supporting the large, diverse student population and community of which Lincoln is apart.

Lincoln is the largest high school in Des Moines Public Schools with 2404 students

enrolled. There are 124 certified staff and 50 classified staff. The student population is 47%

white, 27% Hispanic and Latinx, 13% Black, 8% Asian, and 5% mixed race. The staff is 84%

white, 3% Black, 6% Hispanic, and 6% other. 73.88% of students qualify for free and reduced

lunch, 13.73% are considered English Language Learners, and 14.73% receive for special

education services. Lincoln’s diverse and everchanging population poses many challenges and

advantages for the building. Both require and have aided in the development of community

partnerships.

Lincoln partners with many community organizations to support students and families.

Partnering with The Food Bank of Iowa and Iowa Food Pantry to create a food pantry within the

building where students could shop for their families and loved ones in a safe, welcoming

environment. Lincoln works with the district to provide health services, legal services, financial

assistance, childcare, and many more services, so that students can feel safe and prepared to

participate in the educational experiences in the classroom. These community partnerships play a

key role in the strategic advantages and addressing the strategic disadvantages of the Lincoln.

What is your organization’s strategic situation?

Lincoln’s rapidly changing student population presents many challenges and areas of

opportunity. In the last decade, a decrease in student socioeconomic level and increase in the

refugee population has required improvement in community outreach and assistance. The

community resources are a strategic advantage that aid in providing improvement in areas of

challenge.
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Lincoln considers the schools within its own district to be its main competition.

Specifically, Roosevelt High School and East High School often are compared with Lincoln in

terms of test score and determining access to resources. Furthermore, many students live in areas

that allow them to open enroll into and out of these competitive schools. This leads to competing

for the same financial resources. Data used to compare Lincoln with its competitors include the

District Interim Assessment, ISASP, behavior referrals, and failure rates. Lincoln regularly

collects student and family feedback to aid in building improvement. These data are used to write

goals and act through many committees within the building.

Committee action boards are used to collect and track action items as they help staff meet

building goals. These goals are developed based on the Des Moines Public Schools School

Board goals and State of Iowa expectations. Currently, the method of improvement is

inconsistent between each committee. The leadership and strategy categories will highlight these

differences and potential areas of improvement.

Leadership

How do your senior leaders lead the organization?

Des Moines Public School’s (DMPS) mission and vision impact all schools within the

district. Furthermore, Lincoln’s goals must align with DMPS goals. Lincoln administration and

leadership teams have the freedom to determine the specific wording of the goals, action steps to

achieving goals and plans for communicating steps towards achieving the goals.

Lincoln utilizes many leadership teams and subcommittees made up of the building staff.

The table below illustrates many of the leadership teams at Lincoln, descriptions of their

members, and their purposes’.

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Team Members Purpose

Tier 1 Team
Tier 2 Team
School Leadership Team
Professional Learning Community
Leader Team
Instructional Leadership Team
Administrative Team
At-Risk Coordinators, Improve universal instruction
Teachers (unpaid, voluntary) and behavior intervention for the
Tier 1 system
At-Risk Coordinators,
Instructional supports to
Behavioral Interventionist,
improve student performance
associate principals, success
beyond Tier 1.
worker, counselors
Teachers and Counselors (by
application), Behavior
Develops building goals and
Interventionist, instructional
plans for achieving goals.
coaches, At-Risk
Coordinators
Teachers and counselors
(application required), Deploy classroom processes as
instructional coaches, developed by other leadership
associate principals, athletic teams.
director, principal
Instructional coaches, Develop teaching instructional
principal, associate principals capacity.
Principal, associate principal,
Govern and manage Lincoln.
athletic director

Lincoln’s goals are developed by the School Leadership Team. The goals for the 2020-2021

school year are,

“Building Goal 1: 100% of Black Male students enrolled in Algebra 1 at LHS will earn a

B or higher at the end of both semesters.

Building Goal 2: Lincoln High School will transform policies and practices in order to

redistribute power and combat systemic racism within the educational system.”

During the 2020-2021 school year the building developed goals using multiple sources of data

collected at the building and district level. Lincoln utilized teacher and student Gallup poll data,

Tableau report attendance and failure rate data, and DMPS collected Anti-Racist Townhall data.

The goals are communicated to staff though Professional Learning Community (PLC)

Leaders and Abe’s Announcements. Furthermore, administration keep an open line of

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communicate with staff. Staff are encouraged to ask questions and raise questions about

concerns. Monthly, the Tier 1 team survey’s staff regarding their questions and concerns related

to building goals, policies, and expectations.

Lincoln creates a focus on action through open lines of communication with the

administrative teams and staff driven actions. Staff are encouraged to share their ideas on areas

of potential improvement. Furthermore, staff are urged to seek out learning that allows for

actions that lead to improvement in their classrooms and programs with the goal of furthering

progress towards building goals.

How do you govern your organization and make societal contributions?

Lincoln leadership governs through the adherence to all Iowa State Board of Education,

legislative polices, and DMPS School Board polices. When staff do not meet required guidelines,

processes are in place to determine appropriate consequences and disciplinary actions.

Furthermore, each year staff are required to complete SafeSchools training. These trainings cover

ethical behaviors such as sexual harassment, student electronic safety, and copyright laws, to

name a few examples. Lincoln’s leadership teams work towards the building’s goal towards anti-

racism can be considered a societal contribution that benefits its customers and stakeholders.

Lastly, our partnership with many community organizations actively supports the students and

community members.

Strength

The strength in the Lincoln leadership is its involvement of multiple levels of classified

staff within leadership. Specifically, teachers are involved within multiple leadership teams and

encouraged to share their thoughts on building improvement. Furthermore, leadership has a plan
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for building communication that is consistent and predictable. Staff know where to find

important information and do not feel there are many surprises or unknowns. Lastly, the building

has a clear mission and vision. The mission and vision are utilized in the creation of goal setting

and strategic planning within all building leadership teams.

Opportunity for Improvement

Lincoln currently do not have any stakeholder or customer input in the development of

goals. A potential area of improvement would be to include a process for stakeholders and

customers to be included in the planning and process development of goal. Furthermore,

including these individuals in the strategic development of plans for improvement as it is related

to achieving these goals.

Strategy

How do you develop your strategy?

Lincoln’s strategic planning occurs within the many leadership teams. The method for

determine strategic planning is not consistent within all groups. School Leadership Team for the

2020-2021 school year planning session utilized the method laid out in Jody Spiros Leading

Change Step-by-Step. PLCs are asked to utilized DuFour’s questions in determining their

strategies for classroom improvement. Administrative team has utilized methods like the Plan-

Do-Study-Act model, but other methods are implemented depending on the administrator leading

the change. Other teams utilize different strategic processes.

School Leadership Team determines the building goals, which other teams use to plan

processes that will further the building towards its goals. School Leadership Teams began this
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process the summer before school starts. Utilizing data and developing theories that informs

potential areas of improvement are the first step in the process. During the 2020-2021 school

year these theories led to three areas of potential improvement, which determined subcommittee

work and the work that lead to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams plans.

The three committees are focused on long- and short-term planning. Committee 1 is

working on the long-term planning towards Goal 2. Their work includes increasing student and

stakeholder involvement in key strategic planning. Committee 2 is focused on the immediate

impact of building policies and utilize student survey, attendance, and behavioral data. This

committee works closely with the Tier 2 team to determine theories and potential methods of

improvement around specific policy changes. Committee 3 is developing classroom level

strategies that lead towards long- and short-term changes. Their work is currently leading

changes in how teachers approach literacy by utilizing the Historical Literacy Framework of Dr.

Gholdy Muhammad. They have paired with the PLC Leaders to bring the work to the teachers.

How do you implement your strategy?

Lincoln approaches the deployment of strategy by first considering who the action is

intended to impact. Often strategies are intended for all students. However, on occasion they are

for specific grade levels. School Leadership Team (SLT) begins by recognizing strategies that

will move the building closer to achieve the goal within their subcommittees. Currently, there is

no consistent, strategic process for determining these strategies. Strategies are usually first

deployed to the PLC leaders. Then, the PLC leaders are charged with taking the plan for

implementation to their PLC members. Teachers are then expected to implement any strategies

or changes. Some teachers are not in a PLC. Whole building staff meeting are utilized in cases

where all teachers need to receive the same information for strategic implementation.
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Implementation of strategies are measured through observation, state assessments, district

assessments, and common building assessments, surveys, and other

Strength

Lincoln’s strength in strategy is its focus on alignment within committees and teams of

the building goals. The goals of the building are clear within all committees. This consistency

allows for each team to articulate its plans and purpose clearly. Furthermore, the alignment of

goals creates a clear purpose for deployment of strategy when plans are communicated to staff.

Opportunities for Improvement

Lincoln has an opportunity to improve by implement a consistent process for strategic

improvement within all levels of the organization. Classrooms could benefit from a strategic

process, so that new methods seem intentional. Also, the various leadership teams could benefit

from a consistent method of improvement. Doing so would allow for clear workforce and

customer communication of processes that are being implemented by each team.

Customers

How do you listen to your students and other customers, and design programs and

services to meet their needs?

Lincoln utilizes many strategies to listen to the needs of the students. Specifically, the

Panorama survey, student surveys, and student leadership participation. Panorama is given once

per year to staff and students. Key student questions regard the energy and fairness of the staff

towards students. Responses to the Panorama survey and the Anti-Racist Town halls hosted by
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DMPS during Summer 2020 have been key motivators behind goals and action steps taken by

Lincoln leadership.

From these surveys new programs are being designed for the 2021-2022 school year that

will provide students with learning in creating change through action and research. Students

called for learning on acting for social justice. Similarly, during the 2020-2021 school year

students requested instruction on social-emotional learning and healthy relationships. The Tier 1

team has responded to these requests with a series of student created lessons. The Tier 1 team

will resurvey students once per month to determine the effectiveness of these lessons.

Lastly, the Instruction Leadership Team provides many opportunities for professional

development regarding building relationships with students. Staff are encouraged to spend

intentional time each day building relationships with students and asking students for feedback

that drives the design of classroom instruction. There is no system wide strategic process in place

that allows staff to intentionally act on student feedback.

How do you build relationships with students and other customers and determine

satisfaction and engagement?

Lincoln has many community relationships that increase student and parent access to

much needed resources. Also, Lincoln works closely with its parent and stakeholder

organization, Building Lincoln Higher (BLH) to raise funds that support school resources for

athletics and extracurriculars. These partnerships allow a space for various stakeholders to share

their opinions about how the needs of the students should be met. Currently, all other complaints

are filtered to various administrators depending on the complaint and availability of the

administrators.
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Strength

Lincoln’s strength is it is use of existing measures to determine student needs.

Specifically, Lincoln’s use of Panorama and Townhall data to set goals has expressed to the

customers and workforce the importance of responding to the needs and wants of the

community.

Opportunity for Improvement

Lincoln does not have a strategic process in place to respond and deploy improvements

based on student feedback. This stems from the lack of process for collecting complaints from all

customers. There are currently no stakeholders that participate in building leadership teams.

Furthermore, there are no processes in place for customer or stakeholder complaints to be

utilized to make systemic improvements.

Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management

How do you measure, analyze, and then improve organizational performance?

Lincoln assess many measurement tools to determine goals and academic achievement of

its students. Lincoln use DMPS’s Tableau reporting system, Gallup survey, Panorama survey,

and district assessment data. Each team utilizes different piece of data as it monitors towards

their goals. No team uses the same data or has developed a consistent piece of data. Furthermore,

the data used varies year to year depending on DMPS directives.

How do you manage your information and your organizational knowledge assets?

There are two main methods that Lincoln utilizes to manage information and knowledge

within the organization. First, organization knowledge at Lincoln is built through teacher and
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instructional coaches’ collaboration. The transfer of knowledge from coach to staff to student

through best practices helps staff continue learn through implementation. Coaches are open to

staff developing their own improvement plan and provide guidance on potential strategies that

will lead to increased student outcomes. The second method is through staff meetings and PLCs.

If it is determined through observation that staff need support with best practice, then staff are

provided with professional development on the strategy. These professional developments

provide staff with the instruction on best practice, which they are expected to implement in their

classroom.

Strength

Lincoln’s strategic use of instructional coaches to manage organizational knowledge is a

strength. Coaches set goals with staff and routinely help staff monitor their progress towards the

goal over a 9 week period. There is a clear approach in the coaching process that is predictably

deployed. Staff learning is monitored. Lastly, staff are asked to reflect on how they integrated

their learning into other areas of their classroom system.

Opportunity for Improvement

Lincoln’s has an opportunity to improve by determining consistent metrics that will be

measured at the building level and can be compared against competitors. Determining a

consistent metric would create predictability among staff as they would know what metric is

being monitored for their individual progress.

Workforce

How do you build an effective and supportive workforce environment?

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Lincoln’s administrative team is focused on building and maintaining a highly effective

workforce. Lincoln’s workforce is assessed for capability and capacity by the administrative

team using many methods of measure. Lincoln’s ability to hire and recruit is largely controlled

by the district. Similarly, the district controls staff reductions based on the building budget that is

set. However, the Lincoln administrative team advocates for the needs of system.

Lincoln’s administrative team utilizes a process of walk-throughs, follow-up

conversation, and reflection to measure the capabilities and capacity of its workforce.

Administration makes a point to walk through staff’s classes two to three times per year, but

frequency depends on the needs of the teacher as measured by previous observation. Lincoln

administrative staff feel strongly in their ability to determine best practice. Following up walk-

throughs with conversation allows administration to measure the implementation of best

practices by the staff.

Lincoln has a similar process for evaluating student teachers. Student teachers play an

important role in building capacity. Although the process of hiring is mainly controlled by the

DMPS. The Lincoln administrative team advocates for its needs by identify student teachers and

encouraging staff to reach out to potential new hires. Lastly, Lincoln strongly believes in the

importance of a staff that can adhere to the mission, vision, core values, and collective

commitments, which were highlighted in the Organizational Profile session of this report. The

administrative staff encourages potential new hires to consider how they could uphold these core

beliefs of the organization.

How do you engage your workforce to achieve a high-performance work

environment?
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There are three main strategies Lincoln utilizes to achieve a high-performance work

environment. First, Lincoln staff are encouraged to participate in professional learning

opportunities. Second, administration is initial with how it recognizes staff accomplishments.

Third, staff are regularly asked to participate and engage in leadership teams. These three

strategies help Lincoln maintain a staff that feeds driven to achieve building goals.

Individually selected professional development is supported by Educator Quality (EQ)

funds. Each year a teacher is asked to manage the EQ Funds. This includes developing a process

for teachers to submit applications and receive funds to participate in accepted professional

development. During the 2020-2021 teachers are being encouraged to utilize funds by attending

virtual conferences that will bring Lincoln closer to its goal of achieving anti-racist policies,

practices, and instruction. Furthermore, staff can choose to participate in these professional

developments independently, as a professional learning community, or as a cross-curricular

group.

Outstanding staff, both certified and classified, are recognized for their contributions to

Lincoln with the Golden Spear award. Administrators that feel a staff member needs to be

recognized for an exceptional contribution to the system will discuss the contribution during a

Leadership Team meeting. Then the staff member is presented with an award during a full staff

meeting.

Lastly, Lincoln staff are encouraged to participate in the many leadership teams available

at Lincoln. Staff are selected for Department chairs, PLC Leaders, and SLT membership. Each of

these are selected through application. Staff are asked to participate in leadership summits to

build their capacity as leaders and contribute to achieving a high-performance work environment

through their participation.

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Strength

Lincoln strategic process in providing staff-selected professional development allows for

its workforce to feel their learning is meeting their needs in achieving building goals. This

strength allows for staff to deploy individualized plans for improvement that benefit the whole

building but provide autonomy for the teacher.

Opportunity for Improvement

Lincoln could improve its existing workforce engagement by developing a predictable

system of recognition. Lincoln does not have a routine method of recognize staff

accomplishment. Identifying a potential approach based on staffs’ desired method of recognition

that was predictable and based on a consistent method of data collection, both quantitative and

qualitative could further improve staff moral and performance.

Operations

How do you design, manage, and improve your key educational programs and

services and your work processes?

Much of the educational services and programming is determined by DMPS. Curriculum

and standards are determined at the district level. The district selects teachers and administration

to team in determining district-wide improvements. The building improves educational programs

through the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT). The instructional leadership team meets

weekly to discuss plans for instructional improvement. Areas of potential improvement are

determined by walk throughs and teacher feedback on surveys. Teachers attend professional

development for the areas determined by ILT. Staff are asked in a reflection following the
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professional development for how administration should monitor for the impact of the

improvement in classroom instruction as they pertain to the Lincoln Student Outcomes. Then,

administration and instructional coaches will calibrate for how to monitor for the instructional

improvements and perform walkthroughs to determine if improvements are being made based on

the professional development.

How do you ensure effective management of your operations?

Security and safety are of the upmost importance during any school year. The concerns of

data protection, cyber security, and building safety plans during the 2020-2021 school year have

been essential to the daily management of the building. Data protection and cyber security are

mainly dealt with by DMPS. However, there are a few areas that Lincoln has control over

regarding data gathering and analysis of students. Building safety and security are handled by

building administration.

Building administration are granted certain security rights through the DMPS data

management systems such as Infinite Campus and Tableau. However, when new information is

needed the principal is required to fill out a form to request the information. Furthermore, when

ever technology is misused building administration are required to contact district administration

about correcting any issues.

Lincoln administration oversees determining and planning building safety and security

plans. Associate principals meet yearly to review the Response Emergency Management System

(REMS). During this time, they update the plan to include potential new issues. Existing plans

may be reviewed for improvements based on situations that occur during the school year at the

building. Plans are made to communicate the REMS process to staff. Furthermore, the members

of the Radio Team, which include all administration, At-Risk Coordinators, and Behavioral
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Interventionist, meet following drills and building incidents to discuss the REMS process that

were tests or utilized.

Strength

Lincoln’s REMS process provides a clear approach for how safety and security in

Lincoln should be managed and improved upon. There is a consistent process that is used by all

within the organization. Administration meet to debrief and learn from each drill or deployment

of the processes and further refinements are made based on field back. The process is clearly

integrated, and improvements are made are on a routine basis.

Opportunity for Improvement

Lincoln’s process for innovation is unclear. Much of the control of large-scale innovation

and resources for innovation lie at the district level. However, there is not a clear process for

selecting and continually implementing long-term innovation.

Opportunity for Improvement – Classroom Improvement Method

Plan: Define the System

Lincoln’s has six Student Outcomes, which are intended to be visible in each classroom

through teacher lead action. The following are the Student Outcomes:

“Students are engaged in high level thinking and tasks.

All students feel they are part of the classroom community.

Students feel teachers have high expectations for them.

Students learn from one another and share their thinking.

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Students work together to come up with solutions.

Students know what they are learning and where they are in relation to the target.”

Professional development is planned based on these commitments, as outlined in the Operations

category. However, the problems are that staff do not have a strategic process for individual

improvement without the guide of an instructional coach. Providing a method of improvement

that is routinely utilized by Professional Learning Communities and well understood by all staff

would help to empower Lincoln staff to reach the vision of “Becoming the model of urban

education,” and achieve the building expected student outcomes.

Currently, there way of measuring staff achievement of the student outcomes is through

random, brief walk-throughs, which are followed-up by short staff discussions. The key

measures are administration and instructional coaches understanding of best practice.

Plan: Assess the Current Situation

Staff have been surveyed multiple times this year regarding support they need in their

classroom. Also, administration performed a series of walk-throughs at the starts of second

semester. Based on those walk-throughs it was determined that all staff needed more professional

development around obtaining the Student Outcomes. Furthermore, during a staff meeting on

February 2nd, staff were asked the following questions,

“1. What does your ideal classroom for students at LHS look and sound like in Spring

2021?

2. What norms and expectations for all students are necessary to make this kind of

classroom happen?
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3. What supports do teachers need to make this kind of classroom happen?”

As one staff member put it “Students are engaged and active participants in their learning. The

culture is based on learning, not grade achievement. Since everyone has a common goal students

are encouraged to work together to achieve that goal.” Also, staff lifted that they wanted a way to

include students in making positive changes.

Plan: Analyze Causes

Langford’s modified Deming’s 14 Points can help us understand how implementing a

method of improvement brings about systematic, sustainable changes. Specifically, creating a

constancy of purpose within the building will help better help align the building mission and

vision with the desired aim of learning. Teachers and building leadership have a method that

allows for incremental improvements. These incremental changes through what Langford

describes as “vigorous programming” provides everyone with a method of self-improvement.

Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge describes how a Theory of Knowledge and

application of psychology can make systematic improvements that are sustainable. Through the

Shifting the Burden archetype we can identify the fundamental solution that would lead to long

term, sustainable

change.
Symptomatic Problem Fundamental
- Walk-throughs - Classroom Method of
- Staff desire classroom
- Admin determine Improvement
alignment towards aim
needs

Side Effect
- Staff desire more
autonomy
- Extrinsic Motivation
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The theory is that by providing staff with a consistent method of improvement we can

increase staff autonomy and intrinsic motivation. Therefore, decreasing administrations control

of classroom improvement.

Do: Try Out Improvement Theory

Deming suggests that changes should start small. Therefore, I would ask for a group of

12-15 teachers that are interested in implementing regular Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles in their

classroom. These staff would receive professional development prior to the start of the school

year. Then, they would be paired with an Instructional Coach to practice implementing biweekly

PDSA cycles during the first 45 days of the semester. There would be two measures of

improvement. Individuals would monitor their progress towards their goals. Building would

report out on weekly Capacity Matrix. The goal of this would be to refine the process for

teachers and work towards become experts on the process. Then, this group of teachers would

become leaders in communicating the process to their PLCs.