Why You Should be Talking About Operational Efficiency in Your Schools

Before joining Education Advanced, I spent 20 years serving in public education, most recently as director of communications for a Texas school district. I considered myself to be a highly efficient, productive staff member, and overall, I thought the same of our administrative team; however, there were clear areas in which efficiency and productivity were lacking. I am certain this is the case in most school districts across the country.

If you had asked me to define operational efficiency when I was still in K-12, I'm not sure I would have been able to. I never heard this term used in any conversation in my 20-year education career. But why is this?

Why aren’t education leaders talking about how to increase efficiency to improve business outcomes and ultimately, student achievement?

What’s the difference between productivity and efficiency?

Productivity and efficiency are related, but not interchangeable. These terms are not synonyms, although I think they’re sometimes used as such. Productivity refers to the quantity of work produced, and efficiency refers to the resources used to produce the work and the quality of the output.

For example, consider two administrators who must provide monthly reports to the superintendent. Both administrators produce a spreadsheet with the required data, but the first administrator builds the report manually. The second administrator utilizes queries and formulas to automate the process. They are both equally productive, but the second administrator is more efficient. (And probably more accurate, as manual entry of any kind can lead to human errors!)

Efficiency is the best possible output per unit of time – producing high quality work in a timely manner. Some people might call this working smarter, not harder.

“When you stop doing the things that make you feel busy but aren’t getting you the results (and draining you of energy), then you end up with more than enough time for what matters and a sense of peace and speciousness that constant activity has kept outside your reach.” - Kate Northrup, Harvard Business Review

Productivity and efficiency are both significant, but productivity without efficiency can negatively impact business outcomes and staff morale. No one wants to work countless hours spinning their wheels to get a job done, only to find there are errors that require even more time to correct. Everyone wants to work fast, but mistakes are costly, especially when they affect students.

>>> Reflection question: Are our district leaders productive or truly efficient?

What is operational efficiency?

A former colleague defined operational efficiency as, “achieving output objectives with the fewest input resources possible, or alternatively maximizing the output achieved on a given set of inputs.” Essentially, you want to use your resources wisely to improve results. This should be as true in school districts as it is in business. Highly efficient companies generate better outcomes for the business. Highly efficient school districts generate better outcomes for students.

Consider these key principles for increasing efficiency and boosting innovation:

• Automate repetitive tasks. Dependency on manual processes inhibits efficiency and increases the risk of human error. Invest in automated solutions – automate what can be automated.
• Create better cross-departmental communication. Working in isolation creates bottlenecks, breeds mistrust, and leads to a myriad of operational challenges and slowdowns. Create channels and teams for cross-functional communication.
• Let go of legacy systems. “The way we’ve always done it” is the enemy of innovation and efficiency. One of the biggest reasons initiatives fail is because organizations are afraid to move away from the existing systems they rely on for day-to-day operations, even when they’re not working! Audit your processes and let go of obsolete systems.
• Listen to the data. You can’t change what you don’t measure. Missing, flawed or corrupt data will undoubtedly lead to gross inefficiencies, costly mistakes, and poor experiences for all stakeholders. Measure and monitor to make more confident, accurate decisions.

>>> Reflection question: Do our current practices reflect the principles of operational efficiency?

What does operational efficiency look like in public education?

A quick Google search of “operational efficiency in K-12” will return results about automating key processes, improving productivity, and tracking and optimizing resources.

But what does that really look like in a public education setting? How do you do it?

In a 2011 study performed for Clark County School District in Nevada, Gibson Consulting Group, Inc. stated their research would “identify major areas that the district should focus on to increase efficiency and effectiveness in its educational programs and operational services.” The Clark County School District superintendent admitted that the district would have to do things differently to overcome barriers such as higher expectations, challenging student populations, and limited financial resources. This again illustrates that “the way we’ve always done it” will inhibit reform.

The study focused on four major areas of analysis: student performance, academic programs and services, budget process, and operational review. Recommendations were broken down into four categories: cost reduction, re-purposing, investments, and management practices. Although there were nearly two dozen recommendations, these eight are broad enough to be used to begin a conversation in any district anywhere in the country:

1. Review and re-align expenditures to support district goals.
2. Focus on educational programs that are aligned with district curriculum and student needs.
3. Coordinate professional development around academic goals and the district’s highest priorities.
4. Audit master schedules and staffing plans to identify areas of reorganization to maximize the use of existing staff.
5. Establish an enterprise data management framework to support data integrity, consistency, and data-driven decision making throughout the district.
6. Implement the use of data dashboards to easily compare data and support performance accountability.
7. Ensure the district’s student information system (SIS) meets current standards and requirements.
8. Implement cross-functional teams to better coordinate academic programming and decision making in the district’s new performance zone organization structure.

>>> Reflection question: Is our leadership team having regular conversations in these areas?

Final Thoughts

In a blog post about doing less with less, my former colleague wrote these guiding words to educators:

“Doing less with less is all about managing resource constraints by prioritizing and making smart tradeoffs. However, there are also social-emotional challenges associated with letting go of expectations tied to lower-priority tasks or tasks that can more efficiently be accomplished through teamwork or technology. This is one of the major reasons why we sometimes choose to do things the way they have always been done, even when a better path is staring at us straight in the face. Change is uncomfortable, but it is also the only constant in life, and it is at the very core of educating students. I think we can all take the student approach when it comes to accepting the challenge to do less with less.”

School districts cannot afford to waste time and effort on duplicative procedures and manual processes. These inefficiencies lead to unnecessary expenses, demoralized staff, and fractured leadership, all of which impact student success. Operational efficiency is about more than just saving time and money – it's about improving the educational experience for students and staff alike.