From Paper Standards to Classroom Practice: An ISO 21001 and Baldrige Analysis of Learning Quality Management in an Islamic Elementary School

Abstract

Many Islamic schools hold written quality standards, yet the link between those standards and classroom practice remains weak. This study examined how learning quality in Islamic education is managed at Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Nurul Mun’im, Probolinggo, using ISO 21001:2018 and the Baldrige Excellence Framework as complementary analytical lenses. A qualitative single-case design was employed. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the head of the madrasah, the curriculum coordinator, Islamic education teachers, administrative staff, and parents. These were supplemented by classroom observation and document analysis. The data were analysed through interactive and framework-guided coding. The findings reveal four patterns. First, learning plans were documented but functioned mainly as administrative compliance. Second, classroom practice varied with individual teacher capacity rather than with shared standards. Third, evaluation stopped at test scores, so assessment data seldom informed subsequent planning. Fourth, character outcomes and parental views were observed informally but not recorded as quality evidence. Read through both frameworks, the madrasah met the documentation requirements of ISO 21001 more fully than its performance-evaluation and improvement clauses. It was weakest in the Baldrige categories of measurement and results. The study proposes a madrasah-scale integration in which ISO 21001 governs the learning process cycle and Baldrige links that cycle to leadership, workforce development, and multidimensional results, including akhlak. The study shows where the standards-to-practice gap opens in an uncertified Islamic elementary school. It also offers a low-cost way to adapt both frameworks without pursuing certification.