System, apparatus, and method for generating secondary staffing schedules

10706,374

15/924083

March 16, 2018

Disclosed herein are aspects of a staff scheduling system for preparing a staffing schedule report for secondary education campuses of a school district. In one embodiment, a staff scheduler comprises at least one interface for receiving a plurality of inputs from at least one external computing device; and a processor configured to perform a staff scheduling algorithm to generate a staffing schedule report for the secondary education campuses, wherein the staff scheduling algorithm generates a series of input prompts and decisions based on the plurality of inputs. The plurality of inputs includes at least courses requested by students at each campus, current teachers available in the district, current teachers' qualifications, campus facility information, which courses may be shared at multiple campuses, and which staff may be shared by multiple campuses.

Education Advanced, Inc. (Tyler, TX, US)

Education Advanced, Inc. (Tyler, TX, US)

1. A staff scheduler for generating staffing schedules for secondary education campuses in a school district, comprising: at least one interface for receiving a plurality of inputs from multiple external computing devices, wherein at least a portion of the inputs are automatically received from a school district information management system on a regular periodic basis; and a processor configured to periodically perform a staff scheduling algorithm to generate a staffing schedule report for each of the secondary education campuses, wherein the staff scheduling algorithm generates a series of input prompts and decisions based on the plurality of inputs, wherein at least one legal restriction is also periodically evaluated and employed by the processor to determine teaching staffing to be shared by multiple campuses, wherein said periodically evaluated is at regular and frequent intervals of time; wherein said at least one legal restriction includes at least one of: a maximum teaching time each teacher is available, a travel time between the multiple campuses and teacher compensation therefor for each teacher, and a union constraint, wherein the plurality of inputs includes at least courses requested by students at each campus, current teachers available in the district, current teachers' qualifications, campus facility information, which courses may be shared at multiple campuses, and which staff may be shared by multiple campuses; wherein the staff scheduling algorithm employs the plurality of inputs, including the inputs that are automatically received, and includes at least the steps of: determining the total number of students requesting any course, wherein the total number of students is the number of students requesting said course on said multiple campuses; dividing an enrollment of each course by an enrollment factor to determine a quotient having an integer and remainder; dropping the remainder from the quotient, and dividing the enrollment by the integer of the quotient to determine an average class size; comparing the average class size with a maximum class size; if the average class size exceeds the maximum class size, increasing the integer by one and re-dividing the enrollment by the integer; aggregating a total number of scheduled sections for each course and aggregating a number of teachers currently assigned for each course category in a department to determine a number of teacher sections for each said course category; providing an analysis of course categories that are under or over staffed by subtracting the total number of scheduled sections from the number of teacher sections; and periodically generating the staffing schedule report as a visual display for each of the secondary education campuses, wherein the visual display presents a column, based on the analysis, denoting course categories of departments that are understaffed, overstaffed, or no indication of a understaffed/overstaffed condition, wherein said staffing schedule report is employed to periodically update teacher staffing schedules—that are employed for staffing of teachers for each secondary education campus to satisfy the at least one legal restriction and the plurality of inputs, wherein the visual display is presented as a matrix of rows, and columns for the departments, the course categories, the scheduled sections, the teacher sections and the analysis, wherein, for each of the departments, the rows include a highlighted total row with bolded font that has a count of the scheduled sections and the teacher sections, wherein the analysis for each of the course categories includes an indication of the overstaffed and a count of overstaffing if overstaffing has occurred.

2. The staff scheduler according to claim 1 , wherein the multiple external computing devices include at least one user interface that receives data from a user in the school district, wherein the at least one user interface is presented as a web page.

3. The staff scheduler according to claim 1 , wherein the staffing schedule report includes at least a number of scheduled course sections, a number of teacher sections by course, and an analysis regarding whether each course is under staffed, over staffed, or has a correct amount of staff.

4. The staff scheduler according to claim 3 , wherein the courses are grouped by department.

5. The staff scheduler according to claim 3 , wherein the courses are grouped by category.

6. The staff scheduler according to claim 1 , wherein the facility information includes at least a list of classrooms; classroom size; room amenities, including computers, and layout; equipment resource information.

7. The staff scheduler according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of inputs further includes state required student to teacher ratios for each course; union restrictions; and course restrictions, including grade requirements, gender restrictions, and maximum class size.

8. A staff scheduling system for generating staffing schedules for secondary campuses for a school district, comprising: a staff scheduler configured to generate a staff schedule report; and at least one external computing device configured to supply course and teacher data to the staff scheduler for the staff schedule; wherein the staff scheduler includes: at least one interface for receiving a plurality of inputs from multiple external computing devices, wherein at least a portion of the inputs are automatically received from a school district information management system on a regular periodic basis and the at least one external computing device is one of the multiple external computing devices and a processor configured to periodically execute a staff scheduling algorithm and prepare based thereon a staffing schedule report for the secondary campuses in the school district, wherein the staff scheduling algorithm generates a series of input prompts and decisions based on the plurality of inputs; wherein at least one legal restriction is also periodically evaluated and employed by the processor to determine teaching staffing to be shared by multiple campuses, wherein said periodically evaluated is at regular and frequent intervals of time, wherein said at least one legal restriction includes at least one of: a maximum teaching time each teacher is available; a travel time between the multiple campuses and teacher compensation therefor for each teacher; and a union constraint, wherein the plurality of inputs includes at least courses requested by students at each campus, current teachers available in the district, current teachers' qualifications, campus facility information, which courses may be shared at multiple campuses, and which staff may be shared by multiple campuses; wherein the staff scheduling algorithm employs the plurality of inputs, including the inputs that are automatically received, and includes at least the steps of: determining the total number of students requesting any course, wherein the total number of students is the number of students requesting said course on said multiple campuses; dividing an enrollment of each course by an enrollment factor to determine a quotient having an integer and remainder; dropping the remainder from the quotient, and dividing the enrollment by the integer of the quotient to determine an average class size; comparing the average class size with a maximum class size; if the average class size exceeds the maximum class size, increasing the integer by one and re-dividing the enrollment by the integer; aggregating a total number of scheduled sections for each course and aggregating a number of teachers currently assigned for each course category in a department to determine a number of teacher sections for each said course category; providing an analysis of course categories that are under or over staffed by subtracting the total number of scheduled sections from the number of teacher sections; and periodically generating the staffing schedule report as a visual display for each of the secondary education campuses, wherein the visual display presents a column, based on the analysis, denoting course categories of departments that are understaffed, overstaffed, or no indication of a understaffed/overstaffed condition, wherein said staffing report is employed to periodically update teacher staffing schedules that are employed by teachers for staffing for each secondary education campus to satisfy the at least one legal restriction and the plurality of inputs wherein the visual display is presented as a matrix of rows, and columns for the departments, the course categories, the scheduled sections, the teacher sections and the analysis, wherein, for each of the departments, the rows include a highlighted total row with bolded font that has a count of the scheduled sections and the teacher sections, wherein the analysis for each of the course categories includes an indication of the overstaffed and a count of overstaffing if overstaffing has occurred.

9. The staff scheduling system according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one external computing device is a user interface that receives data from a user in the school district, wherein the user interface is presented as a web page.

10. The staff scheduling system according to claim 8 , wherein the staffing schedule report includes at least a number of scheduled course sections, a number of teacher sections by course, and an analysis regarding whether each course is under staffed, over staffed, or has a correct amount of staff.

11. The staff scheduling system according to claim 10 , wherein the courses are grouped by department and category.

12. The staff scheduling system according to claim 8 , wherein the facility information includes at least a list of classrooms; classroom size; room amenities, including computers, and layout; equipment resource information.

13. The staff scheduling system according to claim 8 , wherein the plurality of inputs further includes state required student to teacher ratios for each course; union restrictions; and course restrictions, including grade requirements, gender restrictions, and maximum class size.

14. A method for preparing a staffing schedule report for secondary education campuses of a school district, the method comprising: automatically receiving data for the campuses of the school district from multiple external sources, wherein at least a portion of the data is from a plurality of inputs that are received from an information management system of the school district on a regular periodic basis, the data including at least courses requested by students at each of the campuses, current teachers available in the district, current teachers' qualifications, campus facility information, which courses may be shared at multiple of the campuses, and which staff may be shared by multiple campuses; periodically preparing, using a staff scheduling algorithm, a staffing schedule report for the campuses using the received data; wherein the processing and periodically preparing the staffing schedule report is performed by a processor, wherein at least one legal restriction is also periodically evaluated and employed by the processor to determine teaching staffing to be shared by multiple campuses, wherein said periodically evaluated is at regular and frequent intervals at time, and wherein said at least one legal restriction includes at least one of: a maximum teaching time each teacher is available; a travel time between the multiple campuses and teacher compensation therefor for each teacher; and a union constraint, wherein the staff scheduling algorithm includes at least the steps of: determining the total number of students requesting any course, wherein the total number of students is the number of students requesting said course on said multiple campuses; dividing an enrollment of each course by an enrollment factor to determine a quotient having an integer and remainder; dropping the remainder from the quotient, and dividing the enrollment by the integer of the quotient to determine an average class size; comparing the average class size with a maximum class size; if the average class size exceeds the maximum class size, increasing the integer by one and re-dividing the enrollment by the integer; aggregating a total number of scheduled sections for each course and aggregating a number of teachers currently assigned for each course category in a department to determine a number of teacher sections for each said course category; providing an analysis of course categories that are under or over staffed by subtracting the total number of scheduled sections from the number of teacher sections; and periodically generating the staffing schedule report as a visual display for each of the secondary education campuses, wherein the visual display presents a column, based on the analysis, denoting course categories of departments that are understaffed, overstaffed, or no indication of a understaffed/overstaffed condition, wherein said staffing report is employed to periodically update teacher staffing schedules that are employed by teachers for staffing for each campus to satisfy the at least one legal restriction, wherein the visual display is presented as a matrix of rows, and columns for the departments, the course categories, the scheduled sections, the teacher sections and the analysis, wherein, for each of the departments, the rows include a highlighted total row with bolded font that has a count of the scheduled sections and the teacher sections, wherein the analysis for each of the course categories includes an indication of the overstaffed and a count of overstaffing if overstaffing has occurred.

15. The method for preparing a staffing schedule report according to claim 14 , wherein the multiple external sources include at least one user interface that receives data from a user in the school district, wherein the at least one user interface is presented as a web page.

16. The method for preparing a staffing schedule report according to claim 14 , wherein the staffing schedule report includes at least a number of scheduled course sections, a number of teacher sections by course, and an analysis regarding whether each course is under staffed, over staffed, or has a correct amount of staff.

17. The method for preparing a staffing schedule report according to claim 16 , wherein the courses are grouped by department.

18. The method for preparing a staffing schedule report according to claim 16 , wherein the courses are grouped by category.

19. The method for preparing a staffing schedule report according to claim 16 , wherein the data for the secondary campuses of the school district further includes at least a list of classrooms; classroom size; room amenities, including computers and layout; equipment resource information; state required student to teacher ratios for each course; union restrictions; and course restrictions.

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