Improving Education Quality Without Increasing Costs: A Download on Operational Efficiency For Educators

Operational efficiency is a business metric used to evaluate the relationship between profit and operating costs. Organizations that turn a large profit on a small base of operating costs are said to be highly efficient.  

What about organizations (like schools) that don’t generate revenue? How do those organizations measure operational efficiency? Well, its actually rather simple. Consider that every organization expends some resource (the input) to arrive at some objective (the output). Operational efficiency is all about achieving output objectives with the fewest input resources possible, or alternatively maximizing the output achieved on a given set of inputs. Let’s look at operational efficiency through the lens of education.

Output Objectives

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the goal of education is to “promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”1  

Politicians are so great with words, right? Makes me wonder if they didn’t take the same writing courses marketers take 😊. But seriously, I think this mission statement deserves some deconstruction:

Student Achievement – We measure achievement using a system of grades and standardized assessment scores.

Preparation for Global Competitiveness – There are a lot of talented people in the world who are trying to get into the same college, enter the same profession, and even have relationships with the same people. A great education experience should help the student achieve their academic, professional, and personal objectives by ensuring the student is able to beat out the competition.  

Educational Excellence – This is about more than simply receiving a great test score. Educational excellence is about unlocking a student’s full intellectual potential and skillset and enabling maximum contribution to the well-being of society.

Ensuring Equal Access – People are incredible and will do incredible things when given the right resources. A great education system helps students break down barriers, close gaps, and overcome unfavorable circumstances. The world will be a better place when we learn to help people reach their maximum potential and guide them to use that potential for virtuous causes.  

Measuring Success

This topic probably deserves a book (I recommend The Four Disciplines of Execution) instead of a short blog post, so I won’t venture into more than a few simple thoughts on the topic:

• A goal undefined is a goal unachieved. Set a goal that is measurable and bound to a specific timeframe.
• Make sure EVERYONE in the organization knows the objective and understands the importance of their contribution to the objective.
• Keep score and pay close attention to the score board daily. Remember, coaches don’t keep the score to themselves. Everyone should know the score.
• We win games by scoring the most points, but we score the most points by moving the ball “one yard at a time.” The things we do to move the ball are our lead metrics. Manage the lead metrics.
• Accountability is a good thing. In education, more than almost everywhere else, the stakes are high. Effective accountability systems sharpen focus and increase commitment to the objectives.

The Inputs

Schools largely operate on a fixed budget and administrators must use their limited financial resources to pay for all the teachers, staff, facilities, technology, materials, etc. required to accomplish the great task of educating our youth. In the world of operational efficiency, school administrators must decide how to use their fixed resources to maximize performance against their success objectives. Needless to say, efficiency in education can be enhanced by ensuring a maximum number of students have access to the right courses (both required and requested), are taught the right curriculum (curriculum that is aligned to defined standards for success), are given ample opportunity to learn (beyond simply being exposed to information), and have a successful experience with the various components of assessment (the assessment effectively measures intellect and skill). I argue that every bit of effort at a school should connect to these objectives.

Technology Should Improve Efficiency

For example… My 8-year-old son goes to a school that uses a web-based math learning game to supplement in-class teaching and worksheet-based practice. The school pays a $3,300/year subscription cost to give access to all enrolled students.

Incremental Input – A subscription to the technology

Incremental Output – Higher quality math education and a teacher with more time to focus on fundamental teaching vs. practice coaching and worksheet grading

Alternative – The school could improve the quality of math learning by sacrificing success in another subject (robbing Peter to pay Paul) or hiring additional people resources or by investing in professional development to help their teachers gain new skills. Hiring just one person or sending all 3rd grade teachers to a PD course, however, would cost a lot more than the $3,300 subscription cost. Clearly, the technology solution is more efficient than the alternatives.

Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too!

In a world where objectives are grand and resources are limited, operational efficiency is the key to maximizing success. This is as true in schools as it is in business. Remember, the promise of technology is, and always has been, to improve efficiency by multiplying output capability. A person empowered by the right technology should be able to accomplish more and at a higher quality level than a more expensive group of people without the technology. With the right technology, you can have your cake and eat it, too.