2004 Lincoln Bronze Award - Commitment to Excellence

November 11, 2004 - Mundelein High School District 120 has been honored with the 2004 Lincoln Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence. Mundelein High School becomes only the 11th Illinois high school district honored with a Lincoln Award during the past 10 years.

	To our Award-Winning Faculty & Staff: Congratulations & Thank You

The Lincoln Award is Illinois’ state version of the Baldrige National Quality Award – the United States’ highest award for performance excellence – which is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the American Society for Quality (ASQ). The Lincoln Award is administered by the Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence. The Lincoln Bronze tier is awarded to organizations that have demonstrated a serious initial effort in the use of total quality concepts and in adopting and applying continuous improvement principles, even if some areas or units may be in the early stages of deployment. During the past 18 months, Mundelein High School has demonstrated evidence of the beginnings of effective, systematic approaches for the seven major processes that are required by the Baldrige Education Criteria including Leadership; Strategic Planning; Student, Stakeholder, and Market Focus; Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management; Faculty and Staff Focus; Process Management; and Organizational Performance Results.

“All of us at Mundelein High School are extremely honored to receive this prestigious award,” commented Dr. Stan Fields, Superintendent. “It will help increase stakeholder trust in our organizational direction and our unwavering commitment to excellence. It’s very challenging to change an existing culture to one that’s rapidly moving forward to a goal of exceptional quality. Our students, parents, and taxpayers deserve nothing less. The Baldrige Criteria provide a proven, world-class methodology for the district, while the Lincoln Award tells us we’re headed in exactly the right direction,” Fields added.

	More information on the education criteria can be found in this PDF file at the NIST website: 2004 Education Criteria

As the United States has worked to elevate the quality of its schools in recent years, the Baldridge Criteria have been used by thousands of U.S. education organizations to improve their performance. The Baldrige Criteria, on which the Lincoln award is judged, helps educational institutions like Mundelein High School respond to current challenges: the need to create value for students, stakeholders, the community, and the school itself; openness and transparency in governance and ethics; and the challenges of rapid innovation and capitalizing on our knowledge assets. The Criteria are used to assess performance on a wide range of key indicators: student learning outcomes, student and stakeholder satisfaction results, budgetary and financial results, faculty and staff performance, and operational outcomes. Mundelein High School is using the Criteria to align resources and approaches; improve communication, productivity, and effectiveness; and achieve strategic goals – the highest of which is the ultimate objective of being the best high school in Illinois in academics, athletics, and activities.

A seven-person panel of quality professionals conducted a four-day onsite examination at Mundelein High School. The audit team spent approximately 200 hours reviewing the school’s processes and documents; and interviewing 44 people including administrators, parents, teachers, board members, teachers’ union leadership, and support staff. Areas evaluated include leadership, strategic plans and actions, student performance, faculty/staff performance, financial planning, processes and results, support processes, communication, technology, and data gathering/analysis. The panel’s full feedback report will be delivered to the school during the week of November 22.

The official awards ceremony hosted by television's Bill Curtis will be held in at the Tellabs World Headquarters in Naperville, Illinois on Wednesday, December 15. In the spring of 2005, the school will be invited to the State Capital to participate in the formal recognition by the Illinois Legislature.