Friday, September 26, 2003

School officials honored in Washington

The Fulton County School System has joined an elite group of organizations such as CIGNA P&C, Hilton Hotels, Mobil Oil, UPS, Wells Fargo Bank, Siemens and others as an inductee in the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Hall of Fame.This latest honor for the school system came in ceremonies held Sept. 16, in Washington, D.C.

The Fulton County School System is the first school district in the country to adopt the Balanced Scorecard approach.In honoring the district, the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative cited the school system's success in several areas.For example, Fulton County students have increased their SAT scores to exceed the national average by 23 points, with 89 percent of all graduates taking the test compared to only 48 percent nationally.Elementary and middle schools have increasedfive points annually on the state's criterion-referenced test.Eighty-two percent of Fulton County parents surveyed showed a high level of satisfaction with their schools compared to the national average of 68 percent.Other results include reduced teacher attrition, new school construction that is consistently on time and under budget, and reduced administrative expenses.

A strategic planning tool, the Balanced Scorecard has been the subject of four articles in the Harvard Business Review, two best-selling business books translated into 21 languages and numerous case studies and public conferences.The editors of Harvard Business Review identified the Balanced Scorecard as one of the most significant ideas of the past 75 years.

While successfully practiced in the business environment, the Balanced Scorecard is just beginning to be adopted in the government sector.In the Fulton County School System, the Balanced Scorecard provides the strategic framework from which all decisions are made.It allows the system to apply business practices to management.Objectives and performance measures are established in five categories:student achievement, stakeholders, instructional and administrative processes, staff learning and growth, and financial performance.

Members of the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame have proven that they are strategy-focused organizations that have achieved breakthrough results.In order to be selected for the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame, the Fulton County School System had to submit evidence of successfully following the principles of the Balanced Scorecard, as outlined by creators Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton.The system also had to show significant improvement as a result of using the Balanced Scorecard.Drs. Kaplan and Norton personally select Hall of Fame members.

Fulton County Board of Education President Katie Reeves enthusiastically supports the Balanced Scorecard approach."The Balanced Scorecard allows the Board to identify items with the greatest potential for significant and immediate impact on student achievement, as well as areas with significant room for improvement," she said."It gives the Board the strategic imperatives we need to direct our decision making.By annually reviewing our targets, the Board and community receive an objective evaluation of school system successes.We can easily see which objectives were met, and which fell short.This is valuable as we seek not only to plan for the future, but also to measure the past."