CASE STUDY

Proximal Path

Rethinking Oral Assessment for English Language Learners

Role: Co-Founder & Lead Product Designer
Timeline: June 2015 – July 2017
Team: 2 Founders, 2 Contract Developers
Partner: Sanger School District
Product: Mobile Recording App & Administrative Web Portal

1. The Challenge: The "Invisible" Language Gap

For 30 years, researchers have known that English Language Learners (ELL) struggle due to a lack of data-driven instruction. Teachers had no easy way to record, analyze, and visualize a student's academic language progress over time.

The Mission: We founded Proximal Path to create a tool that would allow teachers to capture real-time voice data and transform it into actionable insights for district administrators.
The Constraint: As a self-funded startup, we had to be "razor-focused" on high-value features to ensure a lean development cycle with our engineering team in Croatia.

2. The UX Pivot: Flipping the Mental Model

Our first prototype followed a traditional data-entry flow: Input Student Info → Start Recording → Score.

The Friction: Classroom testing revealed that teachers simply didn't have time to input data while managing a room full of students. The "up-front" work was a barrier to adoption.
The Solution: We "flipped" the model to Record First, Categorize Later. This allowed teachers to capture multiple sessions in rapid succession. By moving the administrative work to a more "convenient" time, we drastically reduced classroom friction and increased data collection volume.

3. The Ecosystem: From Mobile to Macro

To provide value at the district level, I designed an accompanying Administrative Web Portal.

Data Visualization: Created dashboards for district leaders to see language trends across entire schools and populations.
User Management: Designed a secure, scalable system for managing thousands of student records and teacher accounts across multiple districts.
Design-to-Dev Handoff: Managed remote collaboration with international developers, ensuring high-fidelity implementation of the mobile and web experiences.

4. Outcomes & Future Vision

Proximal Path successfully moved from a "worthwhile effort" to a validated suite of educational tools.

✅ Successful Pilot: Deployed and tested in three school districts, including Sanger School District, yielding deep insights into ELL student growth.
📈 Strategic Assets: Developed a comprehensive "Startup Toolkit" including the native mobile app, administrative portal, marketing site, and a high-impact pitch deck for investors.
🤩12% Retention & Engagement Boost: By simplifying the recording flow, we saw a 12% increase in recurring usage among pilot teachers, with engagement averaging 54 additional minutes of data collection per day compared to manual methods.