Portfolio: Extended CLRAS
The Extended CLRAS (Career and Life Role Assessment System) is a comprehensive system designed and enhanced over several years to evaluate and accurately report on all the special education students in the State of Oregon. It assesses not only academic areas (reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic) but also functional areas such as life skills, social skills, personal care, and transportation.
A previous developer made a false start and didn't deliver what the client needed. I went back to the paper system and developed the online system from scratch.
The online system is easier to use and produces more valuable outputs:
- Demographic data only needs to be entered once - ever - for a student.
- Age and school data only needs to be entered once for the entire assessment, not on each test or page.
- The system presents the assessor with only the assessments needed, based on previously-selected options.
- Scoring is done instantaneously by the system.
- Reports are available immediately as PDFs for assessors to review, and then talk over with and give to parents.
- Assessment data stays in the system, and can be compared with subsequent years to track progress.
Over the next several years, as grant funding became available, the system was enhanced with new test areas and new test items.
My roles in this system:
- PHP programming
- MySQL database schema, table creation, population, queries, etc.
- JavaScript
- CSS
- Technology consulting
The actual testing methodologies, categories, questions, and scoring algorithms were provided by the client.
Graphic design was created by a third party.
Challenges I dealt with during this project:
- Tight schedules
- Tight, grant-funded budgets
- Users with old browsers on slow computers and networks
- Users with low or no web skills
- Exporting data to the State's legacy systems
Please note that all the student names and data you see in my portfolio are completely ficticious, made up by myself and/or the client. I strongly believe in protecting student (and all client) confidentiality.
