Method for recommending a teaching plan in literacy education

• US 8,506,304 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2009
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Learning Ovations Incorporated (Scholastic Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Carol Conner
• Inventors: Conner, Carol
• Primary Examiner(s): EGLOFF, PETER RICHARD
• Application Number:
  US12/352,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20090186329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,674 Days
• Field of Search: 434/156, 434/178, 434/350, 434/323, 434/167, 434/322, 434/365
• US Class Current: 434/178
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/08 characterised by modifying the teaching programme in response to a wrong answer, e.g. repeating the question, supplying further information

Abstract

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the method for recommending teaching plan for literacy education includes obtaining learning patterns from a teaching plan database that includes the following steps: collecting results of a first literacy test of a first group of students, gathering teaching plan data, collecting results of a second literacy test of a first group of students, and identifying learning patterns based on the student profile data and teaching plan data, and implementing a recommendation engine. The implementation of the recommendation engine includes the following steps: collecting results of a third literacy test of a second group of students, matching a student profile of a student of the second group of students with an identified learning pattern, and recommending a teaching plan for a student of the second group of students.

Claims

1. A method for recommending a teaching plan in literacy education comprising:

collecting results of a first plurality of literacy tests, the plurality of literacy tests comprising a vocabulary test, a word reading test, and a reading comprehension test, wherein the first plurality of literacy tests are administered to a first group of students substantially near the beginning of a stage of learning;

storing the results for each student in a student profile in a database;

receiving teaching plan data the teaching plan data comprising;

a first teaching plan for teacher-managed, meaning-focused learning;

a second teaching plan for teacher-managed, code-focused learning;

a third teaching plan for student-managed, meaning-focused learning; and

a fourth teaching plan for student-managed, code-focused learning;

storing the teaching plan data in the database;

collecting results of a second plurality of literacy tests, the second plurality of literacy tests comprising a vocabulary test, a word reading test, and a reading comprehension test, wherein the second plurality of literacy tests are administered to the first group of students substantially near the end of a stage of learning;

storing the results for each student in the student profile in the database;

identifying learning patterns that produce desired change in the performance level of a student during a stage of learning, wherein the identification is based on the student profile data and teaching plan data;

collecting results of a third plurality of literacy tests, the third plurality of literacy tests comprising a vocabulary test, a word reading test, and a reading comprehension test, wherein the third plurality of literacy tests are administered to a second group of students substantially near the beginning of a stage of learning, and wherein the results for a student are stored in a student profile in a database;

matching a student profile of a student from the second group of students to a substantially similar student profile of at least one student from the first group;

identifying, for the student from the second group, a matching identified learning pattern associated with the substantially similar student profile of the at least one student from the first group; and

recommending, through a software application program implemented on a computing device, a teaching plan for the student of the second group based on the matching identified learning pattern.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving teaching plan data comprises receiving a lesson plan for the student of the first group, and wherein the recommended teaching plan for the student of the second group is based on the received teaching plan.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the software application is provided to a teacher that gathers teaching plan data and stores teaching plan data and student profiles in the database.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the software application converts the lesson plan into teaching plan data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the recommended teaching plan is selected from the group consisting of:

a teaching plan for teacher-managed, meaning-focused learning and a first suggested amount of time;

a teaching plan for teacher-managed, code-focused learning and a second suggested amount of time;

a teaching plan for student-managed, meaning-focused learning and a third suggested amount of time; and

a teaching plan for student-managed, code-focused learning and a fourth suggested amount of time.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the recommendation of a teaching plan includes a student group recommendation for group activities.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the recommendation of a teaching plan includes a recommended lesson plan using resources available to the teacher and students.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the software application suggests a lesson plan that substantially satisfies the recommended teaching plan.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the recommendation is dependent on progress through the year.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the first group of students is a substantially large sample of students in similar grade levels and includes students in different schools.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the student profile comprises community data, school data, class data, teacher data, and student background.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the learning patterns are identified using a pattern recognition algorithm.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein at least one weighting factor is applied to the student profile when matching the student profile of a student from the second group of students to a substantially similar student profile of the at least one student from the first group.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the weighting factor increases weighting of data from a specific school or teacher that has obtained a particular amount of teaching plan data.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the first, second, and third pluralities of literacy tests include at least three selected from the list consisting of:

a letter-word identification test, a passage comprehension test, a picture vocabulary test, and a word matching test.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein each of the first, second, and third pluralities of literacy tests is a combination of literacy tests including the administration of subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement-III.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the second group of students has an average performance level at the time of the third plurality of literacy tests that is substantially similar to the average performance level of the first group at the time of the first plurality of literacy tests.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the first plurality of literacy tests and third plurality of literacy tests are administered substantially near the beginning of a school year, and the second plurality of literacy tests are administered at the end of the school year.

19. The method of claim 5 wherein at least one progress test is administered during a stage of learning of the first group of students and during a stage of learning of the second group of students wherein the student profile includes the result of the progress test.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the recommended teaching plan of a student is modified based on the progress test.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified learning pattern is stored in a lookup table.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the identified learning pattern is calculated from a data analysis of a teaching plan data database.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the software application is provided to a teacher that communicates the recommended teaching plan.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the recommended teaching plan includes at least one suggestion selected from the list consisting of:

amounts of time for a teaching plan category, student group for group activities, and recommended book lessons.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the software application suggests a lesson plan that substantially satisfies the recommended teaching plan.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the literacy tests include at least one selected from the list consisting of:

a letter-word identification test, a passage comprehension test, a picture vocabulary test, and a word matching test.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein at least one weighting factor is applied to the student profile when matching the student profile of a particular student to a substantially similar student profile.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the result of each student in a student profile in a database further includes storing at least one student descriptor selected from the group consisting of:

documented learning disabilities, teacher profiles, and school profiles.