What are Quality Indicators and how do they work?

1. Useful Quality Indication(QI)
…or “How to get from Ushant to
Scilly.”
Featuring Isabelle da Gama - College of Systems

2. THE (QI) IS NOT THE STARTING POINT
• Quality begins with a declaration of purpose
or mission. 105 miles – 91 knots

3. The Mission Statement
• The second step is to
identify key words in
the mission statement.
• These key words
become our Focus for
quality.
• Quality is a terrible
focus word for a
Quality Indicator
• If the Focus words don’t seem quantifiable,
keep working on them until they are.

4. TO THE FOCUS GOES THE (QI)
• (Focus) Safety • Enrollment
– (Don’t Get Lost) – (Geographic Reach)
• (QI) Sun and Moon • (QI) Statewide Enroll.
• (QI) Urban & Rural
• (QI) Stars
• Accessibility
• (Focus) Time
– (Transportation)
– (Use Fastest Route) • (QI) Help kids with
• (QI) Trade Winds travel issues.
• Often, Quality Indicators alone can’t tell you
anything.

5. HOW TO MEASURE THE (QI)?
• What data best represents your Indicator?
• What tool best records that data?

6. MEASURE, METHOD AND TOOLS
• The (QI) should
respond to certain
data that can be
measured. How to
measure that data,
and the correct tool
for measure are the
next steps.
• This is where the quantification comes in.
• Measureable data must be stored and retrieved.

7. ANALYZE THE DATA
• You collect your data, but what does it mean?
What does it tell YOU to do?

8. WHAT IS THE DATA GOOD FOR?
• Some data will speak to your marketing; other
data, your content; still others, your pricing.

9. ACTION % HIGH – ACTION % LOW
• Establish an
optimum percentile
based on researched
data.
• There should be a
course of action
should the indicator
percentile data come
back too low or too
high.
• Data combinations could lead to still other
courses of action.

10. Establishment of Quality Indicators is only
a means to an end.
Optimal numbers in for one indicator will often
lead to a need for new indicators.
This process is natural.
The process goes on for as long as your
program, department or business lasts.

11. FAREWELL AND ADIEU
Isabelle da Gama use with permission from Novamation MEDIA - c.2012