Professional development system and methodology for teachers

• US 8,116,674 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2006
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Teaching Point Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Teaching Point Incorporated
• Inventors: Matthews, Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Kang
• Application Number:
  US11/382,269
• Publication Number:
  US 20060252022A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,108 Days
• Field of Search: 434/350, 434/322, 434/323, 434/365, 705/28, 715/200
• US Class Current: 434/350
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F

Abstract

A system and method for professional development for teachers which includes a structured framework for creating and providing online courses, qualification testing, instructional material, and mentoring teacher access, all subject specific to help teachers gain competency in their individualized teaching assignments and by extension help in the recruitment, development and retention of teachers leading to improved student achievement.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented professional development system for teachers, said system including a computer system having a database and a plurality of subject- specific instructional materials, each of said instructional materials including a syllabus, a pacing guide, a plurality of daily instructional materials, assessments, a student activity book, a teacher version of the student activity book, and class notes, said computer-implemented professional development system further comprising:

a first computer implemented module for managing the selection of authors of said subject-specific instructional materials including an interface for receiving applicant information online using said computer system, a report generator generating a report to compare applicants for selecting an applicant as an author using said computer system, an instruction communicator for providing detailed instructions to a selected applicant using said computer system, said detailed instructions setting forth in detail requirements for materials to be created by the selected applicant;

a second module for managing the creation of said subject-specific instructional materials, said second module comprising a tracker configured to track creation of instructional materials, including stage of completion, percentage completion, and time remaining for a task using said computer system;

and a third module for managing inventory of said subject-specific instructional materials, said third module comprising a tracker configured to track inventory of instructional materials available for shipping using said computer system.

2. A computer-implemented professional development system for teachers, according to claim 1, said third module for managing inventory of subject-specific instructional further comprising a module for managing inventory of material supplies using said computer system.

3. A computer-implemented professional development system for teachers, according to claim 2, said system further including a module for subject-specific mentoring teachers using said computer system.

4. A computer-implemented professional development system for teachers, according to claim 3, said system further including a module for managing creation of instructional materials using said computer system.

5. A computer-implemented professional development system for teachers, according to claim 4, said system further including a module for delivering subject-specific courses online using said computer system.

6. A computer-implemented professional development system for teachers, according to claim 5, said system further including a module for testing teachers using said computer system.

7. A computer-implemented professional development system for teachers, according to claim 6, wherein the instructional materials include encrypted data and said system further includes a decryption key for said data, said encryption key being made accessible only to authorized users.