Abstract:
A system including electronic data collection for school officials, staff, and administrators is described. The data collection system can be integrated onto school management systems to interconnect information regarding data such as student academic records, student merits, student progress, student and teacher biographies, etc. The system assesses student, teacher, classroom, individual school, school district, and state performance in a variety of educational area; associates imputed educational data; and permits the cross-application querying of the educational data and access of the educational data in real-time. The system is intended to help school systems accomplish tasks such as managing work, monitoring student progress in real-time, and determining education trends, via data linkage in real-time.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     REFERENCE TO A “SEQUENTIAL LISTING,” A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to educational management systems, and more particularly to a system adapted to school administrations for managing work, monitoring student progress, and determining educational trends. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In a traditional setting, educators manually record homework, grades, quizzes, writing samples, etc., and submit the results to school officials and administrators, which, in turn, manually submit student, class, and school progress to the state level. Each teacher does this independently, so other teachers and school administrators have no formal mechanism for monitoring a student&#39;s progress with respect to student performance in all areas of education. Grades submitted for report cards give administrators, teachers, parents, and students an idea of how well a student performs in a given subject area for a given period of time. However, administrators do not have real-time information or knowledge with which to work. Additionally, some basic information gathered by a school might be sent to a region or to the state, but little useful information is generated at the classroom level. 
     Computer programs for educational purposes are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,681, issued to Linton, teaches a teaching, evaluating, and reporting computer system and method. Linton teaches a computer system that implements skills assessment and knowledge, manages the instructional segment, and provides the verification, evaluation, teaching, and reporting of the user&#39;s activity with the instructional segment. A managing system has means for broadcasting the instructional segment to a user, a means for evaluating the user&#39;s comprehension of the subject matter, and a means for reporting the user&#39;s results of the instructional segment back to an administrator. 
     Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,883, issued to Siefert, teaches a computer-assisted education, in which a school curriculum is stored in computer repositories. Each student has a learning profile that indicates the student&#39;s capabilities, preferred style of learning, and progress. Based on this profile, an “Intelligent Administrator” selects the appropriate material for presentation during each learning session, assesses the student&#39;s performance, and then presents the material in a different way if the student has failed to master the material. 
     Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,081, issued to Alpert et al., teaches a computer system and method for storing and accessing information regarding digital portfolio projects. Alpert et al., teaches a system with a memory, a graphical user interface, and a tagging process whereby a quality weight is associated with the tag and the quality weight measures the performance of the portfolio author. After an author has submitted a portfolio entry, an evaluator selects tags (e.g., words that would be expected to be in the portfolio entry), and the selected tags are associated with the submitted portfolio entry. Alpert et al., further teaches tagged portions of the portfolio entry that are annotated by a comment selected by the evaluator from a Standardized set of evaluator comments by the respective tags. 
     Next, U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,605, issued to Siefert, teaches a system of educating students including repositories that hold interactive educational programs which students can access from home, via a network. Siefert also teaches learning profiles for individual students, which contain information such as student curriculum, preferred teaching strategies, present student standing, and any other significant personalized information to assist in the monitoring of student progress. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,865, issued to Lee, teaches an interactive and audio-visual system to encourage students to learn at their individual pace through administrative monitoring of the students&#39; interaction with the system. Lee teaches an interactive educational method whereby students are provided with individual workstations linked via system bus, and all workstations are in constant communication with a teacher&#39;s workstation via a LAN interface. Lee teaches a system in which courseware is loaded into the workstation and is uniquely developed for each class, school, school system, or any segment of the student population so as to provide a curriculum desired by the educators using the system and method of the present invention. Students can enter their homework assignments manually by typing their answers into the workstation keyboard, and the answers are compared to the expected answers, transferred to the teacher&#39;s workstation, and stored for future use, such as to track student progress. 
     Last, U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,167, issued to Nobles et al., teaches an integrated system which includes a central school computer for outputting information to classroom computers, teacher computers, and individual student computers. Nobles et al., teaches individual computers called “student units” that have “read” and “test” modes, and these units can be connected to the classroom computers and teacher computers. Students use their individual computer units to do homework, study, and take tests in a variety of subjects, and connect their student unit to the teacher unit for grading and attendance. 
     An object of the present invention is to develop a system that can associate imputed educational data and achieve the cross-application querying of the educational data, and that has the ability to access the educational data in real-time via a “data linkage” process, whereby states, districts, schools, teachers, students, courses, and classes each have their own ID. 
     An object of the present invention is to develop a system to manage not only student progress but also school system (e.g., a school district) progress. 
     An object of the present invention is to develop a system to monitor student and school system progress and associate and track this data against local, state, and federal standards. 
     An object of the present invention is to develop a system that assists school systems in managing work, monitoring student progress, and determining educational trends, and associates and tracks all the imputed data against local, state, and federal standards. 
     The present inventive system includes a tracking system whereby each student has multiple portfolio entries, each with a unique ID, and each portfolio entry has multiple scorings and multiple files with descriptions attached, each with a unique ID. 
     The present inventive system can track these portfolio entries by entry, by student, by teacher, by class, by school, by district, or by state. 
     The present inventive system further includes a quiz manager, which runs a report for how a classroom performed as a whole on a quiz, how a particular teacher&#39;s classes performed on a quiz, how individual students performed on a quiz, and how the school, district, and state performed on a quiz. 
     The present inventive system includes standards managers, which define certain standards and benchmarks students must achieve through the writing portfolio and quiz entries. 
     Also, the present inventive system maintains data compilation of quiz grades, writing portfolio entries, attendance records, teacher biographies, and other administrative matters continually throughout the semester to maximize time and decrease excessive workloads. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of known deficiencies associated with prior educational management systems, an education management system is provided to assess student, teacher, classroom, school, district, and state performance in a variety of educational areas. The system provides for three individual systems which can work separately or together. Standards Managers, Scrimmage Manager, and Writing Portfolio Manager can be installed, either individually or together, and interfaced into a school&#39;s management system to interconnect information regarding such things as student academic records, student schedules and merits, extracurricular activities, teacher biographies, class rosters and attendance, etc. The system is intended to help school systems accomplish tasks such as managing work, monitoring student progress, and determining education trends, instantaneously and in real-time. 
     The system itself includes a central processor (i.e., control station or software relational database) for storing, processing, and accessing information pertaining to the administration of education. The central processor runs on a web-server and can be out on the internet, within a school-wide area network, within a school&#39;s local network, or even on a stand alone machine. 
     The process of data linkage is key and is accomplished via the use of unique identifications (hereinafter “IDs”). Each state has an ID; states have multiple districts which each have an ID; districts have schools which each have an ID; schools have courses, teachers, and students, each having an ID; and courses, teachers, and students come together to form classes which each have an ID. All IDs are unique. Standards Managers, Scrimmage Manager, and Writing Portfolio Manager can all share an optional core module, such as Administrator&#39;s Information Manager (AIM), which is a school management package which coordinates demographic data on students, parents, and teachers, as well as class schedules, course information, contact management, grant tracking, special event tracking, extracurricular and/or athletic involvement, transcripts, and college contact information, among other information. Schools that use AIM or want to use AIM can “hook” any or all of the Managers into AIM; AIM is not necessary for the instant invention but can add useful sets of data for cross-application query reports. Cross-application query reports can be run among Standards Managers, Scrimmage Manager, and Writing Portfolio Manager. Though all different products, they are all pieces of a large, normalized, and comprehensive database architecture. For example, a query could be run against portfolios with a parameter regarding scrimmages (i.e., quizzes) and displaying relevant “Standards” information, to yield a report. 
     Standards are benchmarks students are expected to meet throughout their education. Standards make it clear to teachers, students, and parents what knowledge, understanding, and skill students should acquire at particular grade levels. For example, kindergarten children in the state of Indiana should be able to have a sense of numbers in math, and they should be able to compare the number of objects in a given set and divide the set into equal groups. Whether a student has met a particular Standard is determined by a Standard “indicator”, which is essentially a checklist of certain activities that a child should be able to accomplish, in order to meet that Standard. For example, to obtain the Standard just described, a student has nine indicators which he must meet, including comparing sets of up to ten objects and identifying whether one set is equal to, more than, or less than another, and dividing sets of ten or fewer objects into equal groups (i.e., a child must be able to take six blocks and give the same number to each of three other children to meet the Standard indicator.) 
     Generally, Standards Managers, Scrimmage Manager, and Writing Portfolio Manager can help schools determine what students know, what students can do with what they know, at what level are the students, and whether student performance is consistent with the assessment used to measure student performance. More specifically, Standards Managers, Scrimmage Manager, and Writing Portfolio Manager can run reports to answer questions such as the following, for example:
         1. How many cheerleaders are having trouble in math or how many volleyball players are having trouble in science?   2. Do members of the Math Club perform better in math than non-members?   3. What is the average writing score for students broken down by race, gender, and teacher?   4. What students have not achieved minimum Standards? How many of those students are also struggling with writing and scrimmages?   5. What is the plagiarism rate for students involved in extracurricular activities? Is there a group of students participating in a particular activity showing similar trends in plagiarism?
 
The system of the present invention associates imputed educational data (e.g., portfolio entries and quiz grades) and permits the cross application querying of the educational data and access of the educational data in real-time. The present invention provides for an education administration system to assess student, teacher, classroom, school, district, and state performance and progress in a variety of educational areas. Instead of having to wait months to determine student performance and progress, performance and progress can be determined throughout the semester, at any point in time, instantaneously and in real-time. Also, the system saves school administrators and teachers time from having to constantly manually assess student progress or access student information, as the data will be easily accessible and convenient via a software relational database. Furthermore, paperwork burden is reduced substantially, as the interactive system provides a flexible student monitoring system.
       

     Standards Managers track student progress against Standards and the Standard Indicators, particularly defined by each state, as previously described regarding the Indiana Standards. Standards Managers identify the minimum skill and knowledge base that should be taught to students, and Writing Portfolio Manager and Scrimmage Manager provide the tools to evaluate, track, and report on how well students meet benchmarks, as described above. With the Standards Managers modules, there are multiple standards for each subject, such as math, writing, science, social studies, etc. Standards can be tracked by course, by student, by teacher, by class, by school, by district, or by state. An Instance is the particular intersection of specific components, such as students, teachers, and courses, all of which comprise the Instance at a particular point in time. That is, multiple Instances could originate from the same teacher, the same course, but a different group of students, to yield multiple Instances of a specific class, wherein each Class has a unique ID. Each Instance has a unique ID to differentiate it from other variations with the same origin. For example, Mrs. Jones&#39; Algebra class with Ann, Beth, and Carrie would yield a particular Class with its unique ID. Mrs. Jones&#39; Algebra class with Paul, Quinn, and Raul, would yield another particular Class with its unique ID. 
     Scrimmage Manager offers a quick and advanced methodology for reporting such data as student progress. A Scrimmage is a type of formal quiz given to students, and each Scrimmage has its own ID. Each class has a unique ID and a Scrimmage Instance (here, the intersection of a particular class and a particular Scrimmage). Each student in each class has a unique ID and is graded for each Scrimmage in which he participates. All the demographics, class schedules, and teacher information are entered. As each teacher gathers new data (e.g., quiz grades for each student), the new data now get submitted directly into a normalized, central data store. The system of the present invention allows the teacher to quickly schedule and grade Scrimmages. A teacher can run reports on students, multiple classes, track progress or regression, and generate grades. Reports help identify questions that challenge students the most. The moment data are entered, the administrator can run reports looking for “at risk” students (i.e., an “At Risk Student Report”), decide where to put additional resources, and check to make sure goals are attained, instantaneously and in real-time. For example, the administrator can determine school, district, and state performance, a single student&#39;s performance across his classes, the performance of all a particular teacher&#39;s classes, school-wide performance trends, and trends by grade, level, gender, and ethnicity, as well as thousands of different combinations of those queries. The system takes cumulative information about students, teachers, classes, and entire schools and turns it into the establishment of trends, which can be viewed in real-time. Scrimmage Manager increases the scope of knowledge and reporting by putting all the schools&#39; information into a single data store, as well as reporting on all the sub-levels, all the way down to an individual student. 
     Writing Portfolio Manager defines and tracks the required writing portfolios of students. This module can be used separately from the other Managers and AIM, as previously described, or plugged into the whole module system. Every document ever written by the student can be stored, regardless of file format, on the central server with the state-required scores, state Standards, and date for each document. Writing Portfolio Manager assists administrators and teachers in spotting potential problems, such as a trend of plagiarism, and gives them a chance to intervene as soon as problems begin to arise. Rather than focusing on the final results, administrators and teachers are able to focus on the performance and progress of each student at any time, in real-time. A particular group of students, a particular teacher, and a particular course form an Instance, which yields a class having a unique ID. Each student in each class has a unique ID. Each student has multiple Portfolio Entries, each with a unique ID, and each Portfolio Entry can have multiple scorings and multiple files, with descriptions attached, each with their own ID. The module manages the actual writing samples and scoring of those samples, as well as accomplishes aggregate reporting. Writing Portfolio Manager has a plurality of reports that give school administrations quick snapshots of demographics, writing portfolio progress, student and teacher strengths and weaknesses, as well as a variety of other queried data presented in intelligible formats. The Portfolio Entries, each having a unique ID, can be tracked by entry, by student, by teacher, by class, by school, by district, or by state. 
     The present inventive system has been written to manage actual writing portfolio samples and scoring of those samples and quizzes, as well as to aggregate reporting. The system has different levels of security to allow school administrators to limit who sees what within the system, and state of the art backup and security features that protect the data from being lost or improperly accessed. Standards Managers, Scrimmage Manager, and Writing Portfolio Manager can be accessed by a web browser making the system compatible with PCs, Macs, and Linux boxes. The system ensures compliance with each state&#39;s law, and provides the same scoring criteria as recommended by each state&#39;s education department. 
     For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and its scope will be pointed out in the appending claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The aspects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood when the detailed description of the preferred embodiment is taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram of the education administration system of the instant invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram of the system&#39;s software relational database of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram of the Writing Portfolio Manager module of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram of the Scrimmage Manager module of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5   a  is a diagram of the Standards Manager module of the present invention depicting Language Arts. 
         FIG. 5   b  is a diagram of the Standards Manager module of the present invention depicting Science. 
         FIG. 5   c  is a diagram of the Standards Manager module of the present invention depicting Math. 
         FIG. 5   d  is a diagram of the Standards Manager module of the present invention depicting Social Studies. 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram of the input of data into the system&#39;s software relational database and the generation of reports. 
         FIG. 6   a  is a continuation of the diagram of  FIG. 6  of the input of data into the system&#39;s software relational database and the generation of reports. 
         FIG. 7  is a flow chart showing the process steps of accessing the system&#39;s software relational database and generating reports from the system&#39;s software relational database. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there are shown in the Figures and will herein be described in detail, preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention, and is not intended to limit the broad aspects of the invention to the embodiments illustrated. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the system is comprised of host computers (i.e., computers connected to the internet and located in classrooms, central offices of school districts, etc.) accessed by a plurality of teachers  34 , a plurality of school administrations (or administrators)  24 , and a central data store provided by a software relational database (i.e., a common database system)  12 . The software relational database  12  is hosted and maintained by a secure application service provider (ASP). The software relational database  12  receives, collects, organizes, processes, maintains, and outputs data to school administrations  24  and teachers  34 . The teachers  34  and school administrations  24  access the web-based software relational database  12  via user- and school-specific IDs (identification numbers) and passwords at their host computers, thereby eliminating the need for additional on-site hardware. School information  22  is imputed to the common software relational database  12  by school administrations  24 . This information  22  includes, but is not limited to, teacher biographies, class rosters, and school curriculum. School administrations  24 , in turn, each receive information  32  from a plurality of teachers  34  in each school administration  24 . This information  32  includes, but is not limited to, assignments, grades (i.e., quiz grades), attendance, achievement awards, and portfolio entries. 
     The software relational database  12  communicates with teachers  34  and school administrations  24  via the internet. As soon as information is entered into the software relational database  12 , teachers  34  and administrators  24  can make pinpoint assessments, in real-time, of which students are being challenged by what questions. Test results are recorded such that they can be summarized by student, course, and teacher. 
     Lookup codes save data-entry time and help ensure the accuracy of information  22 ,  32  entered into the system. A set of lookup codes is used to populate dropdown lists. When dropdown arrows for a file are selected and a list of options appears, the options are set up as lookup codes. These lookup codes enable schools to customize the kind of information they track about their students. Changes to lookup codes affect the options presented to users when they click on dropdown lists. 
     As illustrated by  FIG. 2 , the software relational database  12  supports a plurality of subsystems, the first subsystem being Standards Managers  60 , the second subsystem being Scrimmage Manager  40 , and the third subsystem being Writing Portfolio Manager  50 , each of which can work separately or together, and are discussed individually in further detail below.  FIGS. 3-5   d  illustrate elements all the Managers have in common. In all the Managers, each State has a unique ID  71 ; each District within each State has a unique ID  72 ; each School within each District has a unique ID  73 ; each Student within each School has a unique ID  76 ; each Teacher within each School has a unique ID  75 ; and each Course within each School has a unique ID  74 . Additionally, in all Managers, particular Students, Teachers, and Courses—although abstract entities individually—come together to form a specific Instance  100 . For example, the intersection of Students  76 , a Teacher  75 , and a Course  74  results in a specific Instance  100  (such as Ms. Smith&#39;s Chemistry Class with Alex, Betty, and Clay), which yields a Class having a unique ID  77 . Each Student within each Class  77  has a unique ID  78 . The Student IDs  78  for a Class  77  are a subset of all Student IDs  76  which exist for the total population of students at a school. The same student has the same Student ID in both Student ID  76  (as part of the overall student population) and Student ID  78  (as part of a specific Class  77 ). Due to the unique IDs assigned to each component, it is possible to produce almost any desired report, instantaneously and in real-time, on which data are gathered, including cross-application query reports. 
     Standards Managers 
     Standards Managers  60  link the Scrimmage Manager  40  and the Writing Portfolio Manager  50  and are illustrated in more detail in  FIGS. 5   a - 5   d . Within each Class  77  is a subset of Students  78 . Each Course in each subject area has a unique Course ID  74 . The subject areas are illustrated in  FIGS. 5   a - 5   d  for example only, and may include—but are not limited to—Language Arts  64 , Science  62 , Math  63 , and Social Studies  61 . Language Arts  64  includes reading and writing. Each course in each of the subject areas is comprised of Critical Vocabulary with unique IDs  91  and Learning Objectives with unique IDs  92 . Each subject area will have unique Standards IDs, and is illustrated as Language Arts Standards IDs  93 , Science Standards IDs  94 , Math Standards IDs  96 , and Social Studies Standards IDs  95 . The system tracks against all Standards—Federal, State, and Local—with the State being the key Standard. Standards can be tracked by Standard, by subject, by student, by teacher, by course, by class, by school, by district, or by state. 
     Each Standard  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95  contains a plurality of Standard Indicators, each of which has unique Standard Indicator IDs  87 . The same Critical Vocabulary  91 , Learning Objectives  92 , Standards  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95 , and Standard Indicators  87  for a particular Course  74  are taught by following a series of Unit Plans, each having unique IDs  89  for each Class  77 . Critical Vocabulary  91  is the base of words or phrases which is necessary to understand the Standards  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95  and Standard Indicators  87  being taught. For example, students who are being taught a Standards Indicator about adding fractions will need the Critical Vocabulary  91  of “numerator,” “denominator,” “lowest common denominator,” etc. Without understanding these terms, the students will not be able to grasp the Standard Indicators about adding fractions. Learning Objectives  92  are tasks or concepts defined by the Standard Indicators  87 . For example, for the Standard Indicator “Add and subtract decimals,” a Learning Objective could be to determine the correct change that should be given from a purchase at a store. Furthermore, Unit Plans  89  are groups of lesson plans that cover a particular set of concepts, and generally cover a certain number of teaching days in length. Unit Plans  89  are often based on chapter divisions of the primary textbook being used for a particular subject, such as a Unit Plan in history could be on “U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction.” The material covered by the totality of the Unit Plans  89  should comprise all the Standards  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95 , and Standard Indicators  87  for a particular class at a particular grade level. 
     To assist teachers  34  in determining student progress, Standards Managers identify for teachers  34  and administrators  24  what Standards must be covered in the content of a given class at a given grade level for the period of the school year. Under the Standard for each subject area, Standard Indicators  87  detail the more specific task competencies (i.e., benchmarks) which comprise the Standard. To assist teachers  34  in differentiating among the Standard Indicators  87 , the system of the present invention provides a specific example of each. 
     To assist teachers  34  in developing their Unit Plans  89  for a particular course, Standards Managers identify all relevant Standards  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95  and Standard Indicators  87 , as well as Critical Vocabulary  91  needed by the students to understand each Standard  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95  and Standard Indicator  87 . The system assures that teachers  34  do not inadvertently omit any Standard  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95 , Standards Indicator  87 , Critical Vocabulary  91 , or Learning Objective  92  from the series of Unit Plans  89  comprising the course. Once the Unit Plans  89  for a course are created, teachers  34  can save them as templates. The templates allow Unit Plans  89  for a course to be used during multiple class periods or reused as the basis for Unit Plans  89  in a subsequent school year. The templates can also be shared with other teachers, within the same school or even teachers across the country, allowing others to model their Unit Plans  89  on ones that have already been created. The potential time savings is considerable. 
     Administrators  24  have access to Unit Plans  89  created by teachers  34  in Standards Managers  60 . Based on student results, administrators  24  may encourage sharing of templates of specific Unit Plans  89  whose use has resulted in positive student outcomes. Since the system allows information to be shared at the school, district, and state levels, sharing of successful Unit Plans  89  can facilitate organizational learning and save time. Administrators  24  and teachers  34  can also both confirm that all Standards  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95  and Standard Indicators  87  have been covered in a class, and when they were covered. 
     Scrimmage Manager 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , the Scrimmage Manager  40  component of the present invention tracks results of all Scrimmages (i.e., quizzes and tests) entered, and can generate reports summarizing those results by class, by student, by teacher, by question, etc. Notably, reports can be generated in just about any way an educator would need in order to identify problem areas, as well as areas that have been taught successfully, via the use of the unique IDs. Within each Class  77  is a subset of Students, each having unique IDs  78 . Each student participates in Scrimmages, each having unique IDs  85 . An Instance of a Scrimmage given on a particular date has a unique File ID  83 . Each Scrimmage has a plurality of Questions, each of which has a unique ID  86 . The Questions contain Scoring Detail, each having unique IDs  82 . The Standards  88  (each having a unique ID) and Standard Indicators  87  (each having a unique ID) link Scrimmage Manager  40  to the Standards Managers  60 , which define the particular Standards  88  that must be attained by way of Standard Indicators  87  for each subject area. 
     The operation of the system can be described in connection with the block diagram shown in  FIG. 1 . The school administration  24  defines and enters the quiz templates it wants to allow teachers  34  to use when they schedule scrimmages. Each class has a Scrimmage Instance  100 , and each student is graded for the Scrimmage. All the demographics, class schedules, and teacher information are entered and submitted into the software relational database  12  beforehand. As teachers  34  gather new data (i.e., scrimmage results), the new information  32  now gets submitted directly by the teachers  34  to the school administration  24 , which aggregates all the information  32  and directly submits the aggregated information  22  to the centralized software relational database  12 . The system allows teachers  34  to quickly schedule and enter Scrimmage results into the central data store, provided by the software relational database  12 , as previously explained. Teachers  34  choose and schedule one or multiple Instances of a Scrimmage on specific dates in the system. After scrimmages are conducted and graded, the results are entered, via information entry  32  and information entry  22 , into the Scrimmage Manager database provided by the software relational database  12 . Reports analyzing scrimmage results are available immediately (i.e., in real-time). School administrations  24  and teachers  34  can access the analyzed reports. The software relational database  12  outputs information  23  to the school administrations  24  which can view the reports, and further output of information  33  can be accessed by teachers  34 . 
     At the time of system installation in each school administration  24 , which would also include installation for teachers  34  in the school administration  24 , the school administrations  24  can communicate through their computer with the teachers&#39;  34  computers for receiving information  32  from and outputting information  33  into the teachers&#39;  34  computers. School administration  24  information  33  output to teachers  34  includes a cross section of student performance, such as the Scrimmage Reports (i.e., quiz results) and whether certain Standards  88  have been attained, as previously discussed. Teachers  34  may group and summarize Scrimmage results by which students missed particular questions, and receive an analysis by Standard Indicator  87 . A Missed Questions report allows teachers to pinpoint questions that caused problems at the time of the Scrimmage. For each question, the Missed Questions report identifies the number of correct responses, non-responses, incorrect responses, and the most common incorrect responses. A teacher  34  can run reports on students, multiple classes; track progress or regression at both the class and individual student level, and generate grades. Built-in reports help identify questions that challenge students the most. 
     The moment information  32  is entered, the administrator  24  can run reports looking for “at risk” students, decide where to put additional resources, and check to make sure goals and Standard Indicators  87  are attained, for example. The administrator  24  can look up school, district, and state performance, a single student&#39;s performance across his classes, the performance of all a particular teacher&#39;s classes, school-wide performance trends, and trends by grade, level, extracurricular participation, gender, and ethnicity, as well as thousands of different combinations of those queries. The system takes cumulative information about students, teachers, classes, and the entire school(s) and turns it into the establishment of trends. Scrimmage Manager  40  increases the scope of knowledge and reporting by maintaining all the schools&#39; information, submitted via  22  and  32 , in a single data store, the software relational database  12 , and processes and outputs information  23  and  33  on all the sub-levels, all the way down to an individual student. 
     Writing Portfolio Manager 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , Writing Portfolio Manager  50  defines and tracks the results of all writings that the teachers  34  and school administrations  24  enter into the software relational database  12 . Every document ever written by the student can be stored, regardless of file format, on the software relational database  12  with the state-required scores, state Standards and Standard Indicators (as defined by the Standards Managers  60  and previously discussed), and date for each document. Writing Portfolio Manager  50  generates reports summarizing scores, based on the Standards, by student, by class, by teacher, by writing type, etc., in order to identify problem areas. Rather than focusing on the final results, school administrations  24  and teachers  34  are able to focus on the progress of each student. Within each Class, each Student has a unique ID  77 . Each Student has Portfolios, each Portfolio having unique IDs  79 . The Portfolio is comprised of Entries, each having unique IDs  81 . Each Entry is comprised of a number of Scoring Details, each having unique IDs  82 . These Scoring Detail IDs  82  contain information such as, for example, document type, abstract, reviewer&#39;s name, presence of plagiarism, and a detailed list of areas for improvement such as ideas, organization, and style. Also, each Entry may contain many version of the File, each having unique IDs  83 , and may be of any type, such as Microsoft Word documents or scanned “JPEG” image files. Neither the possible types of files nor the number of files stored in a Portfolio Entry is limited. The Standards  88  and Standard Indicators  87  link Writing Portfolio Manager  50  to the Standards Managers  60 , which define the particular Standards that must be met by way of Standard Indicators  87  for each subject area. 
     The Writing Portfolio Manager  50  manages the actual writing samples and scoring of those samples, as well as accomplishes aggregate reporting. Each student has an Overall Score, which allows teachers  34  to record high-level assessments in the student&#39;s portfolio and view student performance. Teachers  34  and school administrations  24  access a database screen for submission of information  32  and  22 , respectively, to the Writing Portfolio Manager  50  in the central data store, provided by the software relational database  12 . The Writing Portfolio Manager  50  provides schools and teachers with the opportunity to record specific information, such as Document Type, Writing Category, Date, Title, Abstract, Plagiarism, the reviewer&#39;s name, etc., for every portfolio entry ever submitted by every student. Teachers  34  may record and submit informational details  32  such as overall strong and weak points, content area, and whether the portfolio entry is a revision of one submitted earlier by the student. The system also allows teachers  34  the ability to evaluate each portfolio&#39;s specific areas of weakness, recording very specific details on shortcomings in areas of ideas and content, organization, style, language conventions, and learning and performing behaviors. The system, at the software relational database  12  level, provides school administrations  24  and teachers  34  with the information,  23  and  33 , respectively, and tools they need to analyze the portfolio entries and generate reports that identify students who need intervention. For example, when a teacher  34  enters an evaluation of an “at risk” student, that student will show up on an At Risk Student Report. This At Risk Student Report identifies basic student and school data, and can easily be customized to show specific demographic data of the teacher&#39;s choosing. Also, the Student Portfolio Performance Report provides a snapshot of student performance. 
     Standards Managers, Scrimmage Manager, and Writing Portfolio Manager 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 6 and 6   a , the unique IDs assigned to each component of the system of the present invention facilitate the linking of each of the Managers, if desired, and the generation of nearly any desired Report  110 , instantaneously and in real time, on which data within the system are gathered, including Application-Specific Reports  120 , Cross-Application Query Reports  130 , and Non-Manager Specific Reports  140 .  FIGS. 6 and 6   a  illustrate in more detail the interrelationships of the Standards Managers  60 , the Scrimmage Manager  40 , and the Writing Portfolio Manager  50  within the software relational database  12 , and the generation of Reports  110 . The Non-Manager Specific Report  140  generates Reports including data regarding student demographics, class rosters, teacher biographies, etc. Application-Specific Reports  120  include Scrimmage Manager Reports  121 , Standards Managers Reports  122 , and Writing Portfolio Manager Reports  123 . These Reports  121 ,  122 ,  123  are generated independent of each other. For example, if a school administrator wants to see the performance of a particular teacher&#39;s classes on a quiz, Scrimmage Manager Reports are generated. Cross-Application Query Reports include Scrimmage and Standards Managers Reports  131 , Writing Portfolio and Standards Managers Reports  133 , and Scrimmage and Writing Portfolio and Standards Managers Reports  134 . These Reports  131 ,  133 ,  134  can be generated due to the data linkage of the unique IDs in the system. For example, the Standard IDs  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95  for a given subject and the associated Standard Indicator IDs  87  link the Standards Manager  60  with the Writing Portfolio Manager  50  and identify and define what Standards must be achieved for a particular writing portfolio entry. Additionally, the Report  133  would identify what Standard Indicators  87  were not grasped by a student, by a class, etc., for that writing portfolio entry. 
       FIG. 7  is a flow chart showing a process  800  of entering the data into the software relational database  12 , the aggregation of data within the database  12 , and the generation of Reports  110  from the database  12 , as desired by a plurality of users (i.e., teachers and school administrators). Teachers or school administrators access  801  the application at the graphical user interface. The teachers or school administrators select  802  the appropriate Manager according to the type of data to be entered. For example, if the data includes faculty lists, student demographics, general school data, etc., the Non-Manager-Specific core (i.e., general database) of the software relational database  12  should be selected. Also, for example, if the data include information regarding Standards, or a teacher wants to access the Unit Plans  89 , Standards Managers  60  are selected, depending on the subject area. If the data includes information regarding the scheduling, creation, or grading of scrimmages, Scrimmage Manager  40  is selected. Furthermore, for example, if the data includes information regarding the submission of portfolios and the specific details accompanying each portfolio entry, Writing Portfolio Manager  50  is selected. 
     After the teachers or school administrators selects  802  the application (i.e., Manager), information relative to that particular Manager, as described above, is entered  803  into the appropriate Manager. For example, if a teacher chooses to enter quiz grade results, the teacher would select the Scrimmage Manager and then enter the quiz grade results into Scrimmage Manager. As another example, if a teacher chooses to submit a portfolio entry and whether the student plagiarized on the portfolio, the teacher would enter the relevant information into the Writing Portfolio Manager. The information is stored, organized, tracked, and aggregated  804  within the software relational database  12  and within the appropriate Manager, if selected  802 . 
     Next, a plurality of users selects  805  the Reports  110  from a list of available reports desired to be generated from the software relational database  12 . Referring back again to  FIG. 6 , these Reports  110  can be Application Specific Reports  120 ; Cross-Application Query Reports  130 ; or Non-Manager Specific Reports  140 . Within each of these categories, a plurality of Reports  110  can be generated, depending on the set of parameters selected  805  by the users. The following illustrates examples of the many types of Reports  110 , as shown in  FIG. 6 , which can be generated, and should not be considered unduly limitative of the invention. 
     The teacher or school administrators can select Scrimmage Manager Reports  121 , an Application Specific Report  120 . This selection allows users to identify and review student, school, district, and state performance and performance trends on quizzes; review performance of a particular teacher&#39;s classes compared with another teacher&#39;s classes in the same school, district, or state; track the progress of a student or class; generate quiz grades; and review scrimmage results in detail by student, by class, by scrimmage, by teacher, and by any organizational unit. 
     The teacher or school administrator can select Standards Managers Reports  122 , another Application Specific Report  120 , to identify relevant Standards and Standards Indicators  87 , including Critical Vocabulary  91 , to be taught at a particular class level. Users can access Unit Plans  89  created by other users, accompanied by Learning Objectives  92  and Critical Vocabulary  91 . The Standards Managers Report  122  advises teachers what Standards must be achieved for each subject area, what Standard Indicators  87  must be attained in order to achieve those state-defined Standards, and when the Standards were attained. 
     The teacher or school administrator can select Writing Portfolio Manager Reports  123 , the final Application Specific Report  120 , which allows users to identify and review student, school, district, and state performance and performance trends on Portfolio Entries  81 ; review performance of a particular teacher&#39;s classes compared with another teacher&#39;s classes; track the progress of a student or class regarding Portfolio improvement; generate an Overall Score; and review Portfolios with detailed analysis, which includes Scoring Details  82 , document type, abstract, reviewer&#39;s name, presence of plagiarism, overall content area, strong and weak points, and whether the entry is a revision. 
     The teacher or school administrator can choose to perform a cross-application query of Scrimmage Manager and Standards Managers Reports  131 , a Cross-Application Query Report  130 . For example, when Standards Managers are used in conjunction with Scrimmage Manager, analysis of the most common incorrect response identified in the Missed Question Report of Scrimmage Manager can help teachers  34  identify what Standards and Standard Indicators—relayed from the Standard IDs  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95  and the Standard Indicator IDs  87  for a particular subject of the Standards Managers  60 —were not grasped by the students in a given class or course. Consequently, the Unit Plan  89  can be revised to provide more emphasis on those weaker subject areas, resulting in more effective teaching the next time a particular Unit Plan  89  is taught. Also, Scrimmage Manager  40  would enable a school to break out quiz results for a given course by a teacher, perhaps to see if one teacher&#39;s approach led to better results than another teacher&#39;s approach. Again, this information can be shared with other teachers  34  throughout the school, school district, state, and even on a national level. For example, if students met the Standards via successful performance on a quiz in a given subject area, the teacher may choose to place his Unit Plan  89  used for teaching the subject area in the database  12  for access by other users. On the other hand, if a particular teacher&#39;s class performed poorly on a quiz in a given subject area, the teacher may choose to access another teacher&#39;s Unit Plan  89  that proved to be more successful, which would be determined by the successful performance of students on a quiz. 
     The teacher or school administrator can choose to perform a cross-application query of Standards Managers and Writing Portfolio Manager Reports  133 , another Cross-Application Query Report  130 . For example, Writing Portfolio Manager  50  allows a School District to compare the number of Portfolio Entries of each fourth grade Language Arts class throughout the District, and this cross-application query report would identify what Standards and Indicators—relayed from the Standard IDs  93 ,  94 ,  96 ,  95  and the Standard Indicator IDs  87  for a particular subject of the Standards Managers  60 —were not grasped by the students. The District can see if significant variations exist, by school, in the number of portfolio entries per student for the same classes, and track student performance and progress based on the Standards and Standard Indicators  87  by student, class, teacher, writing type, etc. 
     The teacher or school administrator can choose to perform a cross-application query of Scrimmage Manager, Writing Portfolio Manager, and Standards Managers Reports  134 , yet another Cross-Application Query Report  130 . The cross-application query capabilities of the system allow a teacher to check to see how a student is performing and progressing in other classes, and to determine whether a student has met the state-define Standards for subject areas in scrimmages and writing portfolios. These are just a few of the multitude of cross-query reports that can be generated due to the data linkage via unique IDs of the system. 
     After the Reports  110  selected by the users have been generated, the next step depends upon whether a cross-application query report  130  had been generated  806 . If not, the Report can be reviewed by the user and analyzed depending on the parameters selected by the user  807 . For example, a teacher may wish to view the performance trends of a particular student by accessing the Scrimmage Manager to determine whether the student&#39;s quiz grades were improving in all of his classes. If a cross-application query report  130  is generated, the user can review the Report to determine whether state-defined Standards have been achieved by meeting Standard Indicators  87  in particular subjects on quizzes and writing portfolios, depending on the parameters selected by the user  808 . Once certain Standards have been achieved then the users can save the successful Unit Plan used to instruct students for reference by other users  809 , and move onto the next Standard to be met. If Standards have not been achieved, as indicated by scrimmage and writing portfolio results, then the user can re-access the application  801  and perhaps utilizing a Unit Plan submitted by another user that has proved to be successful to instruct students on the Standard to be met before again scheduling a quiz or assigning additional writing portfolios. 
     The foregoing detailed description is given primarily for clearness of understanding and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom, for modifications will become obvious to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure, and may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.