1. Production of products of high quality;
2. Adherence to budget and schedule constraints;
3. Early identification of problems;
4. Development of a continuous improvement strategy; and
5. Increased reuse of components.

There are two general types of process improvement models: top-down models that are best suited for hierarchical organizations, and bottom-up models that are best suited for flat organizations.

Curriculum development is a hierarchical process, in which the curriculum for Grade 12 is built upon that from Grade 11, and so on. This hierarchical argument can be extended to the middle schools and elementary schools that provide a high school's students. The top-down model that is suggested to improve curriculum development is the Curriculum Improvement Model.

Besides curriculum development, schools also perform teacher administrative functions (such as preparing materials, developing lessons, assessing student progress, etc.), the central administration in the Principal's office, and the school computer/technology facilities. Schools have separate and unique administrative needs. Improvements may be made to one school, but the same benefits must be tailored to fit the environment of other schools. The administrative and computer facility areas of a school are flat organizations. The bottom-up model that is suggested to improve these areas is the Management Improvement Model.