Welcome to Baltimore County Public Schools' Quality Management System Web site.

Demonstrating its focus on quality and commitment to excellence, BCPS has continued to improve central office services by implementing and maintaining a new process-based Quality Management System (QMS). The initial scope of this initiative has been established as selected services provided to principals in the following areas:

• Curriculum and Instruction (curricula management in the core academic subjects of English/language arts/reading, mathematics, science, and social studies; and professional development with a focus on curriculum development initiatives)
• Fiscal Services (purchasing)
• Technology
• Human Resources

The QMS is based on the International Organization for Standardization certification standards (ISO 9001:2008), which are recognized as the most widely implemented quality standards in the world. By achieving registration that the organization has met these standards, BCPS can provide independent evidence of quality assurance to the organization's internal and external customers as well as other education system stakeholders.

• ISO 9001:2008 Certificate
• News Release 9/3/10
• FAQ

The ISO standards embrace a process approach to management systems. A process is defined as a set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs. To ensure the quality of planned outputs, the organization must not only control the transformation process, but also control the inputs to the process. This is accomplished by establishing, documenting, implementing, and maintaining a quality management system and continually improving its effectiveness in accordance with the requirements of the standards. The initial scope of the QMS reaffirms that the focus of central office work is to support the principals. Therefore, for the purpose of ISO 9001:2008 certification, the internal customer of central office services is defined as the school principal.

The QMS is managed using a multi-level approach. It requires the development of a quality manual that describes what will be done and the process documents that describe how it will happen. Process procedures, work instructions, forms, and template documents describe how to do the work, and records and other reports confirm what was done. The critical elements of the system can be viewed in the following documents that have been developed consistent with the ISO 9001:2008 standards:

• Quality Management System Manual - including the BCPS' Quality Policy (a statement of the intentions and direction for improvement as formally expressed by the executive leadership team) and the quality objectives (performance goals).
• Fifteen core business processes in the central office areas of curriculum and instruction, technology, purchasing, and human resources.
• Seven support and improvement processes required by the standards.
• Selected process procedures and record documents necessary to control and provide evidence of the process performance activities.

These documents provide the framework to ensure that BCPS is using a system that consistently provides the same high quality service to everyone. Employees may access many of these documents by using the links below.

BCPS QUALITY MANUAL AND SUPPORT PROCESSES

• Quality Management System Manual
• QMS Audit Process
• Corrective Action Process
• Preventive Action Process
• Document Control Process
• Record Control Process
• Control of Nonconforming Products Process
• Management Review Process

DIVISION OF CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION

• Curriculum Development Process
• Curriculum Assessment/Evaluation Process
• Professional Development Process

DEPARTMENT OF FISCAL SERVICES (PURCHASING)

• Procurement of Goods and Services Process

DEPARTMENT OF TECHNOLOGY

• Technology Development Process
• Technology Implementation Process
• Technology Support Process

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES

• School-based Instructional Employee Recruitment Process
• School-based Instructional Employee Hiring Process
• School-based Support Employee Recruitment Process
• School-based Support Employee Hiring Process
• School-based Temporary and Substitute Hiring Process
• School-based Position Allocations Process
• School-based Employee Appraisal Process
• School-based Employee Discipline Process

This site displays approved documents for the BCPS Quality Management System and is the only official source for this information. Printed copies of this information may be outdated and should always be verified by accessing this site, or the BCPS Intranet site. Questions and comments can be directed to the Quality Management System Coordinator within the Department of Research, Accountability, and Assessment.

Robert Gibson, QMS Coordinator
9611 Pulaski Park Drive, Suite 305
Baltimore, Maryland 21220
Main Phone: (410) 887-3845
Fax: (410) 391-7260
rgibson@bcps.org