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Standards Aligned System

The Pennsylvania Standards Aligned System (SAS) is a comprehensive approach to support student achievement offered by PDE. SAS is a collaborative product of research and good practice that identified six distinct elements which, if utilized together, will provide schools and districts a common framework for continuous school and district enhancement and improvement.  

The SAS system supports the notion that great schools tend to have six common elements that ensure Student Acheivement:  clear standards, fair assessments, curriculum framework, instruction, materials & resources, and interventions. 

Clear Standards:  Pennsylvania Standards describe what students should know and be able to do; they increase in complexity and sophistication as students progress through school. Using the SAS tool, you can locate specific standards, anchors, and eligible content based on subject area and grade level or course.

Fair Assessments:  A process used by teachers and students before, during, and after instruction to provide feedback and adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve student achievement and to provide appropriate challenge for all students at their instructional levels.  The SAS tool provides formative, summative, benchmark, and diagnostic assessments.

Curriculum Framework:  Specifies what is to be taught for each subject in the curriculum. In Pennsylvania, Curriculum Frameworks include Big Ideas, Concepts, Competencies, and Essential Questions aligned to Standards and Assessment Anchors and, where appropriate, Eligible Content.

Instruction:  Aligned instruction comprises the following activities:

  • Teaching topics that are aligned with the standards.
  • Ensuring the right level of challenge.
  • Focusing teaching based on the learning needs of each student.
  • Implementing instructional strategies to increase student achievement.

Materials and Resources:  Incorporating learning progressions, units, lesson plans, and content resources aligned to the Pennsylvania standards in curriculum frameworks for the four content areas included in the Keystone Exams (mathematics, science, social studies, reading-writing-speaking-listening).

Interventions:  An intervention is a systematic attempt by educators to provide students with research-based supports that ensure meaningful access to the general education curriculum. These data-based interventions ensure students are provided with supports they need to meet and exceed grade-level standards. Interventions should be conducted in addition to grade level standards based core instruction.

Source:  SAS