Incorporating Lean Principles into Professional Development for a Western Association of Schools and Colleges Mid-Cycle Review

The goal of this project is to incorporate lean business management principles into school-wide professional development to assist staff as they prepare for a WASC mid-cycle review. Lean principles were developed by Toyota to successfully manage their organizations internationally. The Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE) at Lucille Packards Children’s Hospital (LPCH) at Stanford adopted lean principles to aid nurses in providing optimal care. To generalize lean principles (1) identify customer value, (2) manage value stream, or determine how work is completed, (3) create value flow by eliminating inefficiencies and waste, (4) establish pull by tracking numbers and managing by evidence, (5) pursue perfection by reducing all forms of waste and empowering people who operate within the organization. By combining lean principles with 21st Century Skills, the teaching staff will synthesize the school’s improvement plan with student data and analyze for areas of inefficiencies and weaknesses. Through collaboration and communication, teachers will develop strategies to provide quality education to all students to sustain a continuous cycle of growth and improvement.