Abstract:
A method and system that presents a high amount of relevant information related to schools, students, subject, assessment scores, grade level, gender, and ethnicity in a clear and coherent manner, yet is cross referenced for easy access to related information. The method and system is built using a database loaded with student and school data, a plurality of available information screens that plot achievement versus growth for selected data sets, plus screens that plot individual students&#39; achievement timely through their grade levels.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a method and system for presenting state, district, school, student subgroup and individual student data using optimized interactive graphical representations on a computer. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    One cannot achieve what one does not measure. Communities are demanding that students and schools achieve at least minimum levels of proficiency in several academic subjects. To measure proficiency, students are tested. This testing produces data that can be analyzed and used to understand the performance of students and schools. These data can be used to make comparisons amongst students, amongst schools, amongst other grades, and amongst other ethnic groups in each of the different academic subjects in terms of both achievement and growth. 
         [0005]    Groups of schools in general and school districts in particular, are responsible for allocating their budgets to achieve the goals of at least minimum proficiency. They need to focus on the problem areas and learn from the successful areas. There is so much data at the state, district and school level, however, it is difficult for administrators to grasp the details and the big picture of school performance at the same time as looking at the smaller picture of individual student performance. However, they must grasp the details and the big picture if they are to make the important decisions that directly affect the success of schools and students. 
         [0006]    There is a need, therefore, to develop a method or system that presents a high amount of relevant information without clouding one&#39;s understanding with less important details. Yet the same method or system must be cross referenced so that a user can easily drill down to individual grades, gender, subject, ethnicity, schools, individual student scores, and their past assessment data. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    The invention is a method and system that presents a high amount of relevant information related to schools, students, subject, assessment scores, grade level, gender, and ethnicity in a clear and coherent manner, yet is cross referenced for easy access to related information. The data visualization tool submitted is a graphical user interface allowing the user to examine education quality along two dimensions (growth and achievement), across various levels of the education system (individual student, class, school, and district), and in terms of various sub-groupings (e.g., student ethnicity or gender). The growth dimension represented in the data tool utilizes student growth percentiles at the individual and group level (aggregated) to represent growth. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, claim, and accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a growth versus achievement chart that plots growth and achievement results for individual schools. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a growth versus achievement chart that plots individual grades within individual schools. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a growth versus achievement chart comparing individual students within one grade of one school. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is an achievement time line of a single student through many grades compared against a background of criterion referenced state standards represented as color bands. 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a growth versus achievement chart that plots the ethnic group achievement within one grade among all schools in a school district. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    The invention is a method for presenting academic performance information on a computer for groups of schools, for example, a school district. The method presents a great deal of highly relevant information on particular screens from which it is easy to go to other cross-referenced screens with related information. The content of some of the screens are selected to give the school administration information charted by school, grade, gender, ethnicity, and academic subject on the scales of growth, achievement, and proficiency. The information is cross-referenced to individual student information that charts each student&#39;s performance in each grade and in each subject within the grade. 
         [0014]    Turning to  FIG. 1 , a user would typically enter the system on a top level screen that shows all schools in the group, which is typically a school district. A crumb trail bar  102  is in the upper left. A subject bar  106  can be used to change the display to present one or all the academic subjects. When the user is looking at plots under a particular subject matter, the data points may have a different color to distinguish the different subjects from each other. 
         [0015]    An X-Y school bubble plot  104  presents the measured performance in terms of the growth and achievement of the students in the individual schools  108 . This school bubble plot  104  has an X axis that represents median student growth percentile, extending from low growth versus high growth schools, dividing them at the 50 th  median growth percentile state average line. The Y axis presents the schools that have a particular percent of students at or above proficient for a selected subject. A horizontal line at the Y axis is set, in this particular state, at 66% as the division between low achievement and high achievement. It can be appreciated by those familiar with academic performance data that this invention is not limited to these particular figures or metrics, and that equivalent measures could be used. For example, the vertical axis could depict percent of student above (or below) any state defined threshold (e.g., unsatisfactory). Similarly, the horizontal axis could depict the percentage of students demonstrating adequate growth to reach the state defined proficiency threshold. 
         [0016]    If one rolls the cursor over a particular school  110 , a data tip  112  is produced with a menu of information describing the data point and options the user can select from. In this case, it shows the school name and the menu of whether to see detailed information presented by grade, gender, or ethnicity. 
         [0017]    Each circle in the group of individual schools  108  represents an individual school. The relative size of the school enrollment is represented by the relative size of the circle, which is a chart format commonly known as a bubble chart. This relationship in circle sizes carries over to other screens as well. 
         [0018]    The individual schools are listed in a panel on the right  114  that has a list rollover functionality. Rolling over a school in the right hand panel  114  would produce a pop up menu of information, like the school bubble menu  112 . There is more than one way to get the same information. 
         [0019]    For example, if one selected “by grade” within the school bubble menu  112  of a particular school, the screen would change to that shown in  FIG. 2 . In  FIG. 2 , note that the crumb trail bar  102  has been extended because the user has gone deeper into the information, namely, a breakdown within the school. By clicking on an earlier tab in the crumb trail bar  102 , one can get back to a previous screen. 
         [0020]    In  FIG. 2 , the scatter chart  104  grid is the same. Each grade  116  in the particular school is shown in its charted position of growth versus achievement for the subject matter selected in the subject bar  106 . The right panel  114  has changed to present a list of schools. The size of the circles of each grade  116  is related to the size of the population in each grade. Rolling over an individual grade  118  within the individual school produces a grade bubble menu  112 . This grade bubble menu  112  gives the user the option to view students with the subject and grade and other schools in the grade for the subject. 
         [0021]    For example, if the user then selects “view by student” in the grade bubble menu  112  of  FIG. 2 , the screen would change to that shown in  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  shows the relative achievement of individual students within a particular school, grade, and subject in a student scatter plot  120 . Once again, the crumb trail bar  102  has been extended with the additional information. The right side panel  114  lists the schools. However, the student scatter plot  120  presents data a different way. The student scatter plot presents each individual student  122  according to the student growth percentile on the X axis ranging from the zero to one hundred percentile. The students&#39; scale score is on the Y axis. The scale score could be the score on any state administered assessment or, for example, a nationally standardized test, such as the scholastic aptitude test (“SAT”) for example. 
         [0022]    If the user places the cursor over a dot  124  that represents an individual student, a bubble menu  126  appears with the student&#39;s name, subject, and the option to view the student&#39;s information across multiple categories. 
         [0023]    For example, if the user selects “view individual” in the bubble menu  126  of  FIG. 3 , the screen would change to that shown in  FIG. 4 . Once again, the crumb trail bar  102  has changed. The right panel  114  remains unchanged. However, the population  128  in the achievement scatter plot  130  has changed to indicate the student&#39;s achievement in the subject over time over different grades. 
         [0024]    Furthermore, the achievement scatter plot  130  in  FIG. 4  presents information in a completely new way. It is an achievement timeline. The X axis represents the student&#39;s current and/or past grade levels. The Y axis has the student&#39;s scale score. However, the plot  130  also presents the student&#39;s standing for each grade and subject within zones/colored regions established by criterion referenced performance levels across all grades tested, in this case established by the state. For example, the zones/colored regions could be unsatisfactory  130   a , partially proficient  130   b , proficient  130   c , and advanced  130   d . The performance levels are established separately for each grade, and can vary in number from 2 (e.g., unsatisfactory/satisfactory) up to more than 10. 
         [0025]    Like with the other screens, the crumb trail bar  102  has been updated, and the right hand panel  114  shows relevant information. If the user places the cursor over a student&#39;s particular grade, a relevant bubble menu is presented that reveals the student&#39;s name, school, grade, subject, and score for that subject. This achievement timeline screen of  FIG. 4  may also present individual student data and a photo of the student. 
         [0026]    Because the information is all cross-referenced, one can look at the information from nearly any angle.  FIG. 5  shows the screen that is displayed when a group&#39;s ethnicity is selected from a bubble menu. The ethnic groups present and relative performance are shown in the population  136  in the ethnicity bubble chart. The size of the dots is related to the size of the ethnic group within the district, or group of schools. For example, if one places the cursor over one dot  138 , the ethnic group is displayed in a bubble menu  140 . A list of schools is presented in the right hand panel  114 , so a user can discover the ethnic makeup of each school by clicking on them. 
         [0027]    In practice, the system may be provided on any of a number of different computer platforms. It can be provided as a web site that users can log on to remotely. It can also be ported to a cross-platform system that behaves like a web browser such as that provided by Adobe AIR®. 
         [0028]    The information can be presented in paper, but it is most useful to use a computer because of the ability for viewing data from different perspectives more easily. The method of presenting the academic performance data can be performed by providing software stored on a computer-readable medium. The information can be displayed on a computer display. The word “page” as used herein can refer to a paper page or the image present on a computer display screen. The benefit of using the computer method is that links to other pages can clicked for navigating to them, greatly facilitating the understanding of complex sets of information. 
         [0029]    The system provides a powerful graphical tool for school administrators to find the groups and the students that are demonstrating high and low achievement and/or growth. It is necessary so that the administrators can focus attention and the districts resources where and to whom it is needed the most. 
         [0030]    Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described herein, the above description is merely illustrative. Further modification of the invention herein disclosed will occur to those skilled in the respective arts and all such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.