Six Sigma in Education

Item

Title: Six Sigma in Education
Abstract/Description: PURPOSE
This paper is one of seven in this volume that aims to elaborate different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called Six Sigma.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH
The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core principles and a case study demonstrating an application of Six Sigma in a school-community partnership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

FINDINGS
The core principles underlying the approach are decreasing variability or unreliability in organizational work processes, eliminate waste or activity that does not add value to desired outcomes, identify defects and decrease their incidence, reduce the cost of work processes, and improve beneficiary/client satisfaction levels. The steps in this statistics-dependent method are design, measure, analyze, improve and control.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE
Few theoretical treatments and demonstration cases are currently available on commonly used models of quality improvement that might have potential value in improving education systems internationally. This paper fills this gap by elucidating one promising approach. The paper also derives value as it permits a comparison of the Six Sigma approach with other quality improvement approaches treated in this volume.
Author/creator: LeMahieu, Paul G.; Nordstrum, Lee E.; Cudney, Elizabeth A.
Date: 2017
In publication: Quality Assurance in Education
Volume: 25
Issue: 1
Pages: 91-108
Resource type: en Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form: en Published Text
Scholarship genre: en Theoretical; en Methodological; en Historical
Keywords: quality improvement; six sigma
IRE Approach/Concept: Six Sigma; Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC)
Featured case/project: Milwaukee Succeeds
Open access/full-text available: en No
Peer reviewed: en Yes
ISSN: 0968-4883
DOI: 10.1108/QAE-12-2016-0082
URL: Official Publisher's Webpage (Emerald Insight)
Is part of: Quality Assurance in Education: Working to Improve: Seven Approaches to Quality Improvement in Education [Special Issue]
Other related resources/entities: Quality Improvement Approaches: Six Sigma
Citation: LeMahieu, P. G., Nordstrum, L. E., & Cudney, E. A. (2017). Six Sigma in education. Quality Assurance in Education, 25(1), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-12-2016-0082
Cited in: Introducing Improvement Research in Education; Cross-National Research on Continuous Improvement

Item sets: IRE Handbook Introduction Citation; Quality Assurance in Education [Special Issue]: Working to Improve: Seven Approaches to Quality Improvement in Education; OB Citations - Cross National Research on Continuous Improvement; OB Citations - Traditions of Quality Improvement in Education

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