For Immediate Release

Got 21st Century Skills?
ASQ Education Conference Can Help

Milwaukee, Wis., August 11, 2008 – Helping kids succeed in work and life is a driving goal of all educators.  Getting there means moving beyond the basics to a focus on 21st century skills that will help students thrive in our high-tech world.  Educators are invited to explore these exciting opportunities at the 16th annual National Quality Education Conference (NQEC), sponsored by the American Society for Quality (ASQ).  

The conference will be held Sunday, November 16 – Tuesday, November 18 at the Silver Legacy Resort in Reno, Nev.  This year’s theme is “Solving Tomorrow’s Challenges: Educating for 21st Century Skills.”   Educators can take part in more than 40 in-depth sessions and five half-day workshops that will help teach today’s students to be more effective in accountability, planning for results, critical thinking, information management, working beyond teams and innovation.   

Two new features include: Quality in Education 101 on Sunday, 7:15-8:15 a.m., and the APQC Presentation and ASQ ImpaQT Demonstration on Monday, 3-4:15 p.m. Quality in Education 101 is a great starter session for newcomers to quality in education that will provide tips on how to make the most of NQEC. It will be hosted by education quality leaders from the Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The APQC Presentation and ASQ ImpaQT Demonstration will focus on benchmarking process improvement and key components in effective continuous improvement. The presentation will end with ASQ’s demonstration of all three modules of its new ImpaQT Training™ for the classroom, school and district.

Conference highlights include three keynote speakers:

• Can We Meet 21st Century Challenges or Will We Be Left Behind? – Sunday, 9-10:30 a.m. – Terry Holliday, Ph.D., superintendent of Iredell-Statesville Schools, Statesville, N.C., and alumni examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program, shares an insightful and humorous look at how one public school district incorporated low cost, technology-oriented approaches in the classroom and boardroom to help students address 21st century skills of organization, communication, problem solving, creativity, and team work.

• Eliminating Educational Frustrations – One at a Time – Monday, 8:30-9:45 a.m. – Lee Jenkins, Ph.D., former California public school educator and superintendent, and author of three education quality books including Boot Camp for Leaders in K-12 Education, presents a fast-paced discussion about deep-seated problems that today’s educators face along with real-world solutions.

• The Opportunity: From Brutal Facts to the Best Schools We’ve Ever Had – Tuesday, 8:30-9:30 a.m. – Dr. Mike Schmoker, former administrator, teacher, football coach and author of four education books including Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning, explores key practices and leadership structures that educators should be implementing in their classroom in order to maximize student achievement.

Make Your Voice Heard!
This year, NQEC also invites educators from across the country to help shape our nation’s K-12 education agenda by participating in a five-minute, three-question survey available on the ASQ Web site K-12 Priority Survey.  ASQ will compile the responses immediately following NQEC and develop a K-12 education 'must-do' list and letter, to be sent to the new U.S. president, based on the November 4 election.

NQEC is the nation’s leading conference for teachers, administrators and support personnel to learn about the use of quality tools and concepts that can be applied to improve U.S. schools.  It is an outstanding opportunity for educators seeking awareness, commitment, refinement and measurable progress in applying continuous improvement approaches and processes.  In addition to numerous special sessions for K-12, it’s also a venue for educators and administrators to interact with their peers from school districts across the country and around the world.

The American Society for Quality, www.asq.org, has been the world’s leading authority on quality for more than 60 years.  With more than 90,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results, and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide.  As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers, encouraging all to Make Good Great®.  ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991.  Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., ASQ is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator, and also produces the Quarterly Quality Report.