The implementation impact of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) on teacher perceptions of CQI categories

School districts and administrators across the country are struggling to meet the mandates of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Education Act. In the Executive Summary of NCLB the design of this educational act is clearly spelled out, "The priorities that follow are based on the fundamental notion that an enterprise works best when responsibility is placed closest to the most important activity of the enterprise, when those responsible are given greatest latitude and support, and when those responsible are held accountable for producing results." The mandates and expectations of meeting adequate yearly progress as spelled out by NCLB were clear and the pressure was placed squarely on the shoulders of administrators and educators across the nation. The problem addressed by this study originated from the pressures applied by these federal mandates and the often hasty reactions by districts throughout the nation.;This study was an implementation evaluation of the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process, within three schools within a large urban school district, in southern Missouri. The goal of the study was to measure what, if any, change occurred in the perceptions of teachers within the buildings that had implemented CQI as compared to the year prior to CQI implementation and as compared to similar buildings that had not implemented CQI. The study concentrated on teachers' perceptions of the seven characteristics of CQI: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Student/Stakeholder Focus, Information and Analysis, Faculty/Staff Focus, Process Management, and Results; while utilizing data from the Missouri School Improvement Staff Survey. An implementation evaluation was chosen due to the school district being very early in its stages of CQI deployment and to ascertain the extent which implementation has changed teacher perceptions.;The purpose of this study was to determine the effect implementation of CQI had on the perceptions held by teachers within this school district concerning each of the seven categories of CQI. The school superintendent began the implementation by modeling behaviors and establishing goals for implementation throughout the District. In the Fall of 2005 discussions began about schools that may volunteer to deploy the CQI process in the 2006-2007 school year. Resources were identified to assist these schools with their deployment and four schools volunteered to pilot the CQI process in 2006-2007. These included two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. In order to determine potential change in perceptions this study needed an already existing complex instrument to measure the potential change. Thus, this research utilized the Missouri School Improvement (MSIP) Teacher Survey as a basis for determining what, if any, affect the implementation of CQI had on teacher perceptions.;The research design was quasi-experimental employing a primarily quantitative approach on studying implementation of CQI within the district. The study focused on the comparison of teacher perceptions between teachers in schools that have implemented CQI versus schools that have not implemented CQI. The study then compared these results to that of the similar schools to determine if the implementation of CQI resulted in a significant change in perception different from that of the non-implementing school. In order to obtain these comparisons the total number or responses from each group of three schools made up the analyzed data. Using the total N for each response category a sub-scale score was established. A Chi-square calculation, developed by the University of Kansas and available on that university's website through the psychology department, was performed on the sub-scale scores for the 2006 and 2007 MSIP Faculty Survey (Preacher, 2001). The Chi-square calculation was performed for each of the 35 selected questions to determine what, if any, change occurred within the pattern of responses that would indicate changes in teacher perception. Any significant change in pattern was determined for each of the 35 items utilizing an alpha of .05.;Findings of this study were very consistent when significant differences were found. In every item identified as having significant difference, more teachers working within buildings that had implemented CQI answered these items as agree or strongly agree than did teachers in buildings that had not implemented CQI. Consistency was also found in items that identified as significantly different when studying perceptions of teachers within CQI buildings comparing pre and post implementation perceptions. In every case where significance was found more teachers answered these items as neither agree or disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree after CQI had been implemented.