Abstract:
Student growth can be defined, tracked, and analyzed using a method that comprises PLAN, ASSESS and REFLECT steps, potentially in conjunction with related sub-steps. This type of method can be facilitated using computer software that can be deployed over a remote network, and that can present a number of screens relevant to defining, tracking and analyzing student growth to a user.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of, and is a non-provisional of, U.S. provisional patent application 61/649,011, filed on May 18, 2012 and having the same inventors and title as listed above. The disclosure of that application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Present day educational technology such as computer and online grade books are used to organize information, store data and perform calculations about student learning. These often include places to enter educational standards and assignments such as homework, tests, and quizzes. Some report mastery of standards while others report using the more traditional A-F scale. Regardless, these systems all have one thing in common; they are used to report student learning in terms of student mastery. Student mastery can be thought of as a measurement of the level to which a student has attained the knowledge, reasoning and skills expected. 
     While mastery information can be beneficial, it is limited in a number of ways, including that it often fails to meaningfully reflect or measure student growth. In the current state of the art, even when individuals decide they want to measure student growth, there is no available technology that can be used to define growth targets, compute and report student growth over time, or using that information to provide meaningful feedback. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for technology which can be used in defining, tracking, and analyzing growth. 
     SUMMARY 
     Disclosed herein is technology that can be used for purposes such as allowing users to measure growth for all students regardless of content, grade, and skill level; allowing users to calculate growth in multiple ways; allowing user input on growth expectations; presenting users with current and ongoing data about students; and representing where a student is relative to the growth target at a given point in time. Using such technology, growth can be aligned to standards, but students may not be required to meet the standards to show growth. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The drawings and detailed description that follow are intended to be merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of protection accorded by this or any related document. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates steps in a method implemented using aspects of the inventors&#39; technology. 
         FIGS. 2   a - 2   b  depict screens that could be used to faciltiate a PLAN step. 
         FIG. 3  depicts a screen that could be provided to a user defining growth targets using an individual percentage approach. 
         FIG. 4  depicts a screen that can be used in defining growth targets. 
         FIG. 5  depicts a screen that could be used in defining growth targets using a tiered approach. 
         FIGS. 6   a - 6   b  depict screens that present student growth information. 
         FIG. 7  depicts a screen that shows, for each class taught by a teacher, whether the teacher is likely to meet his or her goal for a particular student learning objective, and whether the teacher is likely to meet his or her goal for the class overall. 
         FIG. 8  depicts an interface that can be used by an administrator to see whether individual teachers under study are likely to meet their objectives for their classes. 
         FIG. 9  depicts a screen that could be presented to facilitate completion of a REFLECT step. 
         FIG. 10  depicts an architecture that could be used for a tool implemented according to this disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     For the purpose of illustration, the following description sets forth details regarding a software tool and a method that could be performed using the inventors&#39; technology. While this method and associated tool represent preferred embodiments of the inventor&#39;s technology, their description should be understood as being illustrative only, and should not be used to limit the scope of protection accorded by this or any related document. Other examples, features, aspects, embodiments, and advantages of the inventors&#39; technology will become apparent to those skilled in the art, and could be implemented by such individuals without undue experimentation, based on the following description. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions set forth herein should be understood as illustrative only, and should not be used to infer limitations on the protection accorded by any claims included in any patent or application that is related to, or claims the benefit of, this document. 
     Turning now to the figures,  FIG. 1  provides a high-level illustration of a method that could be performed using the inventors&#39; technology to allow users (generally, these will be educators, such as teachers, principals, curriculum directors, or district administrators, though they could also be non-educators, such as parents or outside evaluators from a legislature or department of education) to define, track and analyze growth. 
     In a method following the high level sequence of  FIG. 1 , the initial PLAN step [ 101 ] could be used to plan and create one or more student learning objectives (abbreviated SLOs herein). This step could be implemented in a variety of manners, and may involve a variety of sub-steps. For example, sub-steps involved in planning and creating a SLO can comprise one or more of: (1) performing a rationale or needs assessment to determine and document an area of need for a student; (2) identifying a specific target population for which growth is being sought; (3) identifying the educational standard addressed; (4) the determining one or more assessments used to measure student progress (generally, this will involve verifying that there are at least two opportunities to administer the particular assessment being evaluated); (5) establishing the time covered by the SLO (e.g., 6 weeks, 9 weeks, 12 weeks, 27 weeks, 36 weeks, etc.); and, (6) identifying the target for student growth. Additional information about these steps is provided in below in Table 1, and the following discussion. 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 Implementation, support and purpose information for 
               
               
                 exemplary PLAN phase steps. 
               
             
          
           
               
                 Sub-Step 
                 Purpose 
                 Activities 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Rationale 
                 To 
                 Identify specific needs of the students  
               
               
                   
                 determine 
                 within a class (generally,  
               
               
                   
                 and 
                 if the individual performing the 
               
               
                   
                 document 
                 method is a teacher, then this class 
               
               
                   
                 an area of 
                 will be one taught by that teacher)  
               
               
                   
                 need for 
                 along with an explanation of how  
               
               
                   
                 one or 
                 the need was determined. Student needs 
               
               
                   
                 more 
                 could be based on a number of things  
               
               
                   
                 students. 
                 such as test data from the previous  
               
               
                   
                   
                 year; pre-assessment data; areas of focus  
               
               
                   
                   
                 identified by your building, district, or  
               
               
                   
                   
                 standards; and current research. Preferably, 
               
               
                   
                   
                 will include identification of 2-4 different 
               
               
                   
                   
                 areas of need that the user intends to 
               
               
                   
                   
                 address (or have addressed). 
               
               
                 Population 
                 To identify 
                 Describe the population in which intend to 
               
               
                   
                 a specific 
                 measure growth. This will preferably include 
               
               
                   
                 population 
                 should identifying a population for each need 
               
               
                   
                 for which 
                 identified in the previous step. The  
               
               
                   
                 growth is 
                 populations could range from all students  
               
               
                   
                 being 
                 to a particular sub group. 
               
               
                   
                 sought. 
                   
               
               
                 Standard 
                 To identify 
                 Identify the standard(s) for which a specific  
               
               
                   
                 the specific 
                 need is discovered. These standards could be:  
               
               
                   
                 standard(s) 
                 Common Core Standards,  
               
               
                   
                 addressed 
                 National Standards, and/or State Standards. 
               
               
                 Assessment 
                 To describe 
                 Develop an assessment plan for measuring 
               
               
                   
                 the 
                 student growth. Preferably, the assessments 
               
               
                   
                 assessment 
                 should be both rigorous and aligned to the 
               
               
                   
                 used to 
                 identified standards. The assessment plan will 
               
               
                   
                 measure 
                 preferably be developed to have multiple 
               
               
                   
                 student 
                 assessments in order to generate multiple data 
               
               
                   
                 progress. 
                 points and will preferably contain both  
               
               
                   
                   
                 formative (during the learning) and  
               
               
                   
                   
                 summative (final) assessments. 
               
               
                 Timetable 
                 To 
                 Determine the amount of time after which  
               
               
                   
                 establish 
                 the growth target should have been  
               
               
                   
                 period of 
                 achieved( e.g., based on the end of an  
               
               
                   
                 time 
                 academic period). 
               
               
                   
                 covered by 
                   
               
               
                   
                 SLO. 
                   
               
               
                 Growth 
                 To identify 
                 Determine the method for calculating the  
               
               
                 Target 
                 teacher 
                 student growth targets (and/or teacher growth  
               
               
                   
                 and/or 
                 targets, if appropriate in a given situation).  
               
               
                   
                 student 
                 Preferably, the targets  
               
               
                   
                 growth 
                 will be both realistic and challenging. 
               
               
                   
                 targets. 
                 Details on how this can be performed are  
               
               
                   
                   
                 set forth in the text. 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     As a further illustration of how the PLAN step [ 101 ] could be performed, and, in particular, to provide an expanded discussion of the growth target determination sub-step, consider that the inventors&#39; technology could be implemented to support a plurality of approaches to measuring and defining growth. For example, in some cases, the inventors&#39; technology could be used to measure and define growth using both individual growth calculations (e.g., calculations in which each individual student has their own individual growth target) and tiered growth calculations (e.g., calculations in which individual student growth targets are based on placing the students into tiers). Descriptions those approaches to measuring and defining growth for students are set forth below. 
     Turning first to individual approaches to growth, a preferred method for utilizing the inventors&#39; technology will use these approaches when there are assessments with an output that translates into a percentage or point value. At a high level, these individual approaches allow a user (e.g., an educator) to set growth targets, that can have varying degrees of rigor. The growth targets, along with scores from initial assessments, are then used to project a target scores and expected growth ranges. For example, in one implementation of an individual approach to growth, a user will use percentage scales to define growth targets. Preferably, this definition of growth targets will include definition of both a bottom and top threshold for expected growth. As a concrete illustration of these individual percentage growth targets, consider the case of a student who scores 25 out of 100 possible on an initial assessment test. If a 50/50 percentage growth target were used, then, to reach a minimum expected growth, the student would need to improve his or her score to at least 63 by the end of the assessment period (63=25+(100−25)*50%, rounded up). To exceed the growth expectations, the student would have to improve his or her score to at least 82 by the end of the assessment period (82=63+(100−63)*50%, rounded up). 
     Of course, the use of a 50/50 percentage growth target in the above example should be understood as illustrative only, and other growth targets (e.g., 20/80, 25/75, 33/66) could be used as well. In general, regardless of the growth targets used, the points necessary to achieve to reach or exceed expected growth defined as individual percentage growth targets can be determined as follows:
 
 S   Min     —     Final   =S   Actual     —     Initial +( S   Max     —     Initial   −S   Actual     —     Initial )* E   Min     —     Percent /100
 
 S   Max     —     Final   =S   Min     —     Final +( S   Max     —     Initial   −S   Min     —     Final ))* E   Max     —     Percent /100
 
In the above equations S Min     —     Final  is the minimum score the student needs to achieve by the end of the assessment period to reach expected growth. S Actual     —     Initial  is the student&#39;s actual score on an initial assessment. S Max     —     Initial  is the maximum score possible on the initial assessment. E Min     —     Percent  is the threshold percentage improvement to reach expected growth. S Max     —     Final  is the minimum score needed to exceed expected growth. E Max     —     Percent  is the threshold percentage improvement to exceed expected growth.
 
     Of course, just as the numbers used in the 50/50 growth example should not be treated as limiting on individual percentage growth target calculations, the percentage growth target calculations should not be treated as implying limitations on individual metrics for growth that could be implemented using the inventors&#39; technology. For example, as an alternative to the percentage growth calculations above, it is also possible that individual approaches to growth could be implemented using an individual point growth calculation. For these types of calculation, a user could provide point goals for students and those point goals would then be applied to the student&#39;s starting scores. To illustrate, if a student scores 25 on an initial assessment, and the user had set a 15/45 point growth target, then the user would need to improve his or her score to at least 40 to reach expected growth, and 70 to exceed expected growth. Additional alternatives are also possible. For example, instead of using percentages or point improvement, growth might be defined in terms of other measures, such as percentiles (e.g., to reach expected growth, a student might need to move from the 30 th  percentile to the 40 th  percentile). 
     Similarly, in some cases targets could be defined in such a way that a student could achieve expected growth even if his or her score decreased between initial and final assessments. For example, there could implementations where, once a student has scored above some threshold (e.g., a mastery threshold of more than 95/100 on an initial assessment), then any score on the final assessment that was also above that threshold would be treated as consistent with expected growth. Different types of individual growth calculations could also be combined. For example, in some implementations, a user could use define one type of growth target (e.g., percentage growth) for a first student, and another type of growth target for a second student (e.g., a point based growth target). Other variations are also possible, and will be immediately apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure. Accordingly, the discussion of specific individual growth calculations above should be understood as being illustrative only, and not limiting. 
     Turning next to tiered approaches to growth, a preferred method of using the inventor&#39;s technology will include using these approaches when calculating growth using assessments containing a rubric or scoring criteria that does not easily translate into a percentage (e.g., a rubric that is based on 1-6) or using an assessment with a fixed score (e.g., the Developmental Reading Assessment). At a high level, these approaches allow a user (e.g., a teacher) to place students into different groupings, and then to define growth targets which apply only to those groups. For example, a teacher could separate students into four tiers, and set specific growth targets for each of the tiers as shown below in Table 2: 
                                                                         TABLE 2                   Exemplary tiers and growth targets.            Tier 1   Tier 2   Tier 3   Tier 4       Range (1-3)   Range (4-6)   Range (7-9)   Range (10-12)                    Yellow   4-9   yellow     7-12   yellow   10-15   yellow   13-16       Green   10-18    green   13-18    green   16-18   green   17-18                    
Using the tiers shown in Table 2, if a student scores anywhere from 1-3 on an initial assessment, he or she would need to improve his or her score to at least 4 to reach expected growth, and would have to improve his or her score to at least a 10 to exceed expected growth.
 
     Of course, other approaches to calculating growth targets using tiers are also possible. For example, instead of setting absolute scores for each tier, a tiered approach could be implemented to allow a user to set improvement levels for students in the various tiers. As an illustration of this, consider the tiers and growth targets set forth in Table 3: 
                                                                         TABLE 3                   Exemplary tiers and growth targets.            Tier 1   Tier 2   Tier 3   Tier 4       Range (1-3)   Range (4-6)   Range (7-9)   Range (10-12)                    yellow   +7   yellow    +6   yellow   +5   yellow   +4       green   +9   green   +8   green   +7    green   +6                    
Using the tiers shown in Table 3, if a student scored a 2 (first tier) on the initial assessment, then he or she would have to improve his or her score to a 9 to reach expected growth, and would have to improve his or her score to a 11 to exceed expected growth. Additional variations could also be implemented. For example, tiers and growth targets could be defined in terms of percentages or percentiles (assuming that appropriate data to make the percentage or percentile determinations is available). Similarly, as was the case with the individual approaches different types of growth targets could be combined in the tiered approaches, and, in some implementation, negative growth could be accommodated.
 
     Other variations are also possible. For example, while the above discussion of the tiered and individual approaches to calculating growth focused on calculating growth for students, the inventors&#39; technology could also be used to calculate non-student growth. To illustrate, consider the task of defining growth targets (and/or calculating growth) for teachers. Preferably, when targets for student growth are being defined, similar targets will be defined for teachers. Like the student targets, these teacher growth targets could be set forth in terms of percentages such as a target that 75% of a teacher&#39;s students will improve their scores by at least 30 points. Multiple thresholds could also be provided. For example, as with students, teachers could have thresholds set for both meeting and exceeding expectations. These could be directly transferred from student targets (e.g., the teacher could have a first threshold target of 75% of his or her students achieving expected growth, and could have a second threshold target of 75% of students exceeding expected growth) but could also be based on more aggregated data (e.g., the teacher could have a first threshold target of 75% of students reaching expected growth, and a second threshold target of 85% of students reaching expected growth). 
     These thresholds could also be calculated and adjusted on an ongoing basis (e.g., quarterly, yearly, etc.) to provide growth data for teachers in a similar manner as described above for students. For example, a teacher who has 65% of his or her students reaching their growth targets in a first year could have a goal set to have 75% of his or her students reaching their growth targets for the following year. This information could then be used for purposes such as identifying areas where teacher training is deficient, or identifying teachers who have significantly improved their ability to impart knowledge to students, and requesting that they help prepare training materials that could be provided to others. Other approaches are also possible, and will be immediately apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure. Accordingly, the discussion set forth above regarding the definition of growth targets should be understood as being illustrative only, and not limiting. 
     Turning now to the second step in the high level method of  FIG. 1 , the ASSESS step [ 102 ] can involve gathering, storing and analyzing data so that growth can be monitored on an ongoing basis. For example, in the case where multiple formative (during learning) assessments were identified during the PLAN step [ 101 ] from  FIG. 1 , the ASSESS step [ 102 ] could involve administering those assessments, converting their results to a scale that is comparable to that used to define the growth targets (e.g., converting a raw score to a percent or percentile, preferably using the approach determined during the PLAN step [ 101 ]), and then providing those results in a format that is easily understood by the relevant individuals (e.g., a graph showing whether a student is on track to meet or exceed growth expectations given the relevant growth target). This will allow the individual using the inventors&#39; technology (e.g., a teacher) to identify issues (e.g., students who are not on track to reach expected growth) and take appropriate remedial action (e.g., providing additional support for students who are not on track to reach expected growth). 
     Finally, the high level method of  FIG. 1  concludes with the REFLECT step [ 103 ], that can be used for evaluating the results of the period under consideration, soliciting, receiving and/or providing feedback and/or guidance, and identifying relevant information that could inform instructional decision making. For example, the REFLECT step [ 103 ] can be used to assess the effectiveness of different teaching strategies, methods and resources by examining how those factors contributed to students meeting their growth targets (or not). Other types of analysis (e.g., identifying any teachers who have been particularly successful for the purpose of determining who is using methods that work) could also be included in the REFLECT step [ 103 ] and will preferably be included as appropriate for the circumstances where the inventors&#39; technology is implemented. 
     In addition to being useful in performing the methods discussed above in the context of  FIG. 1 , the inventors&#39; technology could also be used to implement a software tool that could facilitate the performance of those (or related) methods. Preferably, such a software tool will include a plurality of interfaces, which will be organized according to the steps of the method of  FIG. 1 . For example, there could be a screen for the PLAN step [ 101 ], a screen for the ASSESS step [ 102 ], and a screen for the REFLECT step [ 103 ]. To illustrate, consider  FIGS. 2   a - 2   b , which provides illustrative screens that could be used to facilitate the PLAN step [ 101 ] from  FIG. 1 . As shown in those figures, a screen presented during the PLAN step [ 101 ] can be implemented to provide information about the results of each of the sub-steps for the PLAN step [ 101 ] listed in table 1. Also, in some implementations, a software tool that displays a screen such as shown in  FIGS. 2   a - 2   b  could be implemented to support its users in actually performing the sub-steps listed in table 1. Examples of how a software tool could support the individual sub-steps of table 1 are set forth below in table 4, and in the following discussion of how a software tool could be used to define growth targets. 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 4 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 Examples of how a software tool could  
               
               
                 support the sub-steps of table 1. 
               
             
          
           
               
                 Sub-Step 
                 Support 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Rationale 
                 This could be supported by, for example: providing access  
               
               
                   
                 to data that could be used to determine need (e.g., allowing  
               
               
                   
                 a user to call up and display pre-assessment data); including  
               
               
                   
                 fields for entry of relevant data (e.g., text fields for entering  
               
               
                   
                 student needs, or drop-down fields of standards or  
               
               
                   
                 skills that could be used as needed); and/or including  
               
               
                   
                 instructions on how to perform the step (e.g., indicating  
               
               
                   
                 that 2-4 areas of need should be identified). 
               
               
                 Population 
                 This could be supported by, for example: providing drop  
               
               
                   
                 downs of potential populations (e.g., as determined  
               
               
                   
                 by student demographics); and/or suggesting  
               
               
                   
                 potential populations (e.g., by using software routines  
               
               
                   
                 to identify correlations between potential populations  
               
               
                   
                 and identified needs, and suggesting potential  
               
               
                   
                 populations having the highest correlations). 
               
               
                 Standard 
                 This could be supported by, for example, providing drop  
               
               
                   
                 down menus of potential standards. 
               
               
                 Assessment 
                 This could be supported by, for example: providing  
               
               
                   
                 assessments that could be used in the assessment plan (e.g.,  
               
               
                   
                 assessments provided as part of the underlying software  
               
               
                   
                 package, or assessments that could be purchased separately);  
               
               
                   
                 including lists of assessments correlated with particular  
               
               
                   
                 standards; and/or including a calendar of when assessments  
               
               
                   
                 could be provided (e.g., if an assessment is a standardized  
               
               
                   
                 test, indicating when it could be administered). 
               
               
                 Timetable 
                 This could be supported by, for example, providing a  
               
               
                   
                 drop-down menu of standard times  
               
               
                   
                 (e.g., 6, 9, 12 , 27, or 36 weeks). 
               
               
                 Growth 
                 Details on how this can be performed are set  
               
               
                 Target 
                 forth in the text. 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     With respect to how a software tool could support the definition of growth targets, the specific support provided will generally vary with the type of growth target being considered. For example,  FIG. 3  depicts a screen which could be provided to a user defining growth targets using the individual percentage approach described above. As shown in  FIG. 3 , such a screen could include components such as selectors [ 301 ] which would allow the user to choose pre-configured growth targets (e.g., the 20/80 growth target shown), an explanation of the meaning of those targets [ 302 ], and a graph [ 303 ] showing the expected growth range given the selected growth target given an exemplary initial score (e.g., the average score of students on an initial assessment, if available, with above expected growth shown in green [G][ 304 ], expected growth shown in yellow [Y] [ 305 ], and below expected growth shown in red [R] [ 306 ]). There could also be controls (e.g., buttons) that would allow the user to move to potentially defining targets in terms of other approaches (e.g., individual point improvement, tiered improvement) [ 307 ], or to other steps (or sub-steps, not shown) of the method [ 308 ]. Of course, components other than those depicted in  FIG. 3  might also be presented. For example, rather than simply providing radio buttons allowing a user to select particular pre-configured growth targets, in some implementation, a user could be provided a text field or other type of control that would allow him or her to define their own targets to reach. 
       FIG. 4  depicts a screen which, like the screen of  FIG. 3 , could be used to define growth targets. In particular, the screen of  FIG. 4  could be used to define growth targets in terms of individual point growth. To define individual point growth targets using the screen of  FIG. 4 , a teacher (or other user) could enter the maximum and minimum possible scores and expected growth thresholds using the using the provided controls [ 401 ]. This information could then be provided to a software routine that would automatically generate a graph [ 303 ] showing specific improvement that would be required given the entered data for an exemplary student. A similar screen for defining growth targets using a tiered approach is provided in  FIG. 5 . In that screen, a user could define the tiers and their associated growth targets by simply entering the information into the text fields [ 501 ] provided. Alternatively, in some implementations, a user could simply enter maximum and minimum scores and the number of tiers desired, and the software tool could automatically generate tiers and growth targets. Similar screens could also be made available (typically to an administrator, then to a teacher) for defining other types of growth, such as teacher growth targets. 
     While the discussion above focused on how the inventors&#39; technology could be used to implement a software tool that would facilitate performance of the PLAN step [ 101 ], it should be understood that such a tool could be implemented to facilitate the other steps shown in  FIG. 1  as well. For example, a software tool implemented using the inventors&#39; technology could maintain growth information for each student under study, and could provide screens that could display that growth in a color-coded manner, with red indicating that the student is not likely to achieve expected growth, yellow indicating that the student is likely to achieve expected growth, and green indicating that the student is likely to exceed expected growth.  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  depict exemplary screens that present student growth information, with  FIG. 6   b  providing a display that expands on the data shown in  FIG. 6   a.    
     Similar information can also be provided on an aggregated basis. For example, as shown in  FIG. 7 , a software tool implemented using the inventors&#39; technology could provide a screen that would show, for each class taught by a teacher, whether the teacher is likely to meet his or her goal for a particular SLO, and whether the teacher is likely to meet his or her goal for the class overall. Aggregation can also take place at a higher level than classes. For example,  FIG. 8  depicts an interface that can be used by an administrator to see, based on information obtained to date, whether individual teachers under study are likely to meet their objectives for their classes. 
     Of course, it should be understood that a software tool using the inventors&#39; technology could be implemented to present interfaces other than those shown in  FIGS. 6   a - 8  as part of facilitating an ASSESS phase [ 102 ]. For example, while the interfaces of  FIGS. 6   a - 8  focused on providing current growth information using boxes, a software tool implemented using the inventors&#39; technology could also automatically generate, and allow a user to review, the same information in graph form. These graphs could be substantially similar to the graphs shown in  FIGS. 3-5 , though they could also include additional information, such as data points showing intermediate assessments, and/or a projection line showing the student&#39;s (or other individual&#39;s) expected performance given observed results to date. Accordingly, the discussion above of how a software tool could facilitate an ASSESS step [ 102 ] should be understood as being illustrative only, and not limiting. 
     A software tool implemented using the inventors&#39; technology could also facilitate completion of the REFLECT step [ 103 ] from  FIG. 1 . For example, such a tool could be implemented to provide a forum where individuals could view their own (or, potentially other people&#39;s, depending on the requisite individual&#39;s permissions) results and provide comments or feedback. Such a forum could also allow individuals to establish private conversations with specific other users (e.g., a teacher who wanted to communicate with an administrator about a performance review without other teachers being able to participate or observe). An example of a screen that could be presented by a software tool supporting this type of interaction during a REFLECT step [ 103 ] is presented in  FIG. 9 . 
     Turning now to  FIG. 10 , that Figure illustrates an architecture that can be used for a tool implemented according to this disclosure. In the architecture of  FIG. 10 , the primary point of interaction would be a user computer [ 1001 ], which would connect to a server [ 1002 ] over a network [ 1003 ]. The server [ 1002 ], in response to a request from the user computer [ 1001 ] could provide the user computer with an interface. For example, the server [ 1002 ] could be a web server connected to the user computer [ 1001 ] over the Internet that is configured to send HTML, Javascript, and/or other code to be interpreted by a browser on the user computer [ 1001 ] in response to a GET command. In such an implementation, the code that would be sent to the user computer [ 1001 ] could be stored on the server [ 1002 ], or one or more databases [ 1004 ], or could be dynamically generated by the server [ 1002 ] in response to a request from the user computer [ 1001 ]. Once the code is received at the user computer [ 1001 ], the user could then use the interface provided by that computer [ 1001 ] to view and/or modify data stored in the one or more databases [ 1004 ] (e.g., using a form submit command). Other interfaces in addition to a browser based interface to a web server are also possible. For example, the user computer [ 1001 ] could be provided with a special-purpose client application that would automatically interact with the server [ 1002 ] using custom data transmission protocols, rather than relying on a browser that would interpret general-purpose web design languages, such as HTML, Javascript or others. Similarly, it is possible that, rather than using an architecture with a remote server as shown in  FIG. 10 , in some implementations functionality such as described for the architecture of  FIG. 10  could be provided locally on the user computer [ 1001 ] itself. As a result, while the examples set forth herein focus primarily on implementations that utilize an architecture such as shown in  FIG. 10 , that focus should understood as being illustrative only, and should not be used to limit the protection accorded by this document or any document claiming the benefit of this document to any specific architecture, including the architecture depicted in  FIG. 10 .