Urbandale Community School District (UCSD) in Urbandale, IA is committed to continuous improvement, moving away from 
old paradigms to foster an innovative, data-driven environment for students to learn and teachers to teach. As a results of the leadership team’s diligent work in this area, UCSD is the first school district in the state to earn the highest quality award available in that state–that is, the Gold Achievement from the Iowa Quality Council.
UCSD serves over 3,900 students in six elementary schools, one middle school and one comprehensive high school. In 2010, UCSD began the exceptional and challenging journey of implementing a systems approach for continual improvement in order to re-engage learners, help them to feel a sense of purpose in their learning and provide them the tools they need to become independent learners. By adhering to the rigorous standards established by the Baldrige framework, standards that the most successful organizations across the nation use to achieve high performance, Urbandale is able to more fully align goals throughout the entire district—from the student level, to the classroom level, to the building level, to the district level, to the Board level— with one clear aim: to systemically advance student achievement.
“Our relentless focus on student-centered vision, mission and values, quality/continual improvement, and our system as a whole are the foundations to the success we richly enjoy.”
-Superintendent Steve L. Bass
We are proud of this partner organization and their leadership team whose commitment and dedication to both educational and organizational excellence is evident through this great achievement.
Photo from urbandaleschools.com
