New Award to Spotlight Quality of Education Efforts

Milwaukee, Wis., January 2, 2007 – Facing the pressures of No Child Left Behind, many U.S. schools are working hard to close achievement gaps by implementing effective instruction, professional development and quality improvement initiatives. The first annual Team Excellence for Education Award, sponsored by the American Society for Quality (ASQ), will showcase the nation's most outstanding improvement efforts at the 15^th Annual National Quality Education Conference (NQEC) in St. Louis, Mo., November 11-13, 2007.

Faculty and students from K-12 school districts from across the country are invited to enter this new competition.The event is modeled after ASQ's International Team Excellence Award competition – the only international team-recognition process of its kind in the United States.

The Team Excellence for Education competitionwill provide educators with the opportunity to benchmark their team's efforts against other schools' best practices, and capture national and international recognition for the winning schools' team-based quality improvement efforts. Each team (which could include administrators, teachers and students) will present its project live during the NQEC conference and all entrants will be recognized for their participation. The highest scoring teams will receive Gold, Silver and Bronze awards.Scoring will be conducted by a team of judges from across the country – to be named at a later date.

"Investing in our children through school quality improvement is one of the best legacies that educators can leave for future generations," said ASQ President Ron Atkinson. "This unique new award program allows educators across the nation to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring performance excellence in our schools."

Criteria and guidelines for the competition will be available in February 2007 with application forms due from teams by March 2007. For more information on how to participate, visit http://nqec.asq.org/2007/team-competition/index.htmlor e-mail gbalagopal@asq.org or call 800-248-1946 x 7303.

Educators from across the U.S. are also invited to submit presentations on topics relating to continuous improvement principles in education for the 15^th Annual National Quality Education Conference.

This year's conference theme, "Building Better Schools: Leadership, Teamwork and Learning," offers a number of focus areas including: regular and systemic assessment and evaluation to facilitate continuous improvement; partnership and support networks; develop and aligning to the school improvement plan; leadership's role in sustaining improvement; differentiated learning and success strategies for improvement. Presentation proposals are due no later than Friday, February 9, 2007. For more information on presentation submission requirements, visit http://nqec.asq.org.

NQEC is the nation's leading conference for teachers, administrators, and support personnel to learn about the use of quality tools and concepts that can be applied to improve U.S. schools. It is an outstanding opportunity for educators seeking awareness, commitment, refinement and measurable progress in applying continuous improvement approaches and processes.In addition to numerous special sessions for K-12, it is also a venue for educators and administrators to interact with their peers from school districts across the country and around the world.

The American Society for Quality, www.asq.org, is the world's leading authority on quality. With more than 90,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results, and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide.As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers, encouraging all to Make Good Great^TM. ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991.  Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., the 60-year-old organization is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator.