Standards

[|Standard Based Education] Definition: a process for planning, delivering, monitoring and improving academic programs in which clearly defined academic content standards provide the basis for content in instruction and assessment. > **In a standards-based system. . .** >> >> ====Students:==== >> >> ===4 Keys to Success for ALL Students=== Also reference
 * measures its success based on student learning (the achievement of standards) rather than compliance with rules and regulations.
 * aligns policies, initiatives, curriculum, instruction, and assessments with clearly defined academic standards.
 * consistently communicates and uses standards to focus on ways to ensure success for all students
 * Students generally learn better in a standards-based environment because everybody's working towards the same goal.
 * Teachers know what the standards are and choose classroom activities and teaching strategies that enable students to achieve the standards.
 * Students know the standards, too, and can see scoring guides that embody them. The students can use them to complete their work.
 * Parents know them and can help students by seeing that their homework aligns with the standards.
 * Administrators know what is necessary to attain the standards and provide professional development, resources and materials to ensure that students are able to reach the prescribed standards.
 * ====Teachers:====
 * - Articulate standards
 * - Inform students about the standards
 * - Use standards to design instruction and assessment
 * - Use rubrics and other methods to clearly communicate student expectations.
 * - Provide feedback to help students improve performance
 * - Use teaching methods that suit the individual student's needs.
 * - Communicate progress towards the achievement of standards
 * - Can describe the standards
 * - Use self-assessment and reflection to improve performance
 * - Take responsibility for their own learning.
 * - Communicate progress towards the achievement of standards
 * Curriculum: Specifies the program devised by DoDEA used to prepare students to meet content standards.
 * Instruction : Methods and strategies used to teach the curriculum.
 * Assessment: Monitor student achievement and evaluate progress toward goals.
 * Environment: The physical surroundings, allotted time, and climate in which instruction takes place.
 * [|Wikipedia Defintion]

SAS is the Pennsylvania Standards Aligned System. The SAS is made up of six components that create a framework for successful schools. The SAS focuses mainly on Standard-based instruction and assessment.

=[|__SAS__]= The **Pennsylvania Standards Aligned System (SAS)** is a collaborative product of research and good practice that identifies six distinct elements which, if utilized together, will provide schools and districts a common framework for continuous school and district enhancement and improvement. Listed below is each element of SAS and the definition for each. This information was taken directly from the website, Click on the SAS above and you will be redirected to the SAS site.
 * 1) **Assessment**
 * 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.
 * Types of Assessment Used
 * Summative Assessment
 * Seeks to make an overall judgment of progress made at the end of a defined period of instruction.
 * Known as high-stakes testing (NCLB)
 * Formative Assessment
 * Used by teachers and students during instruction to provide feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.
 * Benchmark Assessment
 * Designed to provide feedback to both the teacher and the student about how the student is progressing towards demonstrating proficiency on grade level standards.
 * 4-Sight testing
 * Diagnostic Assessment
 * Ascertains, prior to instruction, each student’s strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and skills. Establishing these permits the instructor to remediate students and adjust the curriculum to meet pupils’ unique needs.
 * 1) **Curriculum Framework**
 * The 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.
 * **Big Ideas:** Declarative statements that describe concepts that transcend grade levels. Big Ideas are essential to provide focus on specific content for all students.
 * **Concepts:** Describe what students should know (key knowledge) as a result of this instruction specific to grade level.
 * **Competencies:** Describe what students should be able to do (key skills) as a result of this instruction, specific to grade level.
 * **Essential Questions:** Questions connected to the SAS framework and are specifically linked to the Big Ideas. They should frame student inquiry, promote critical thinking, and assist in learning transfer.
 * 1) **Instruction**
 * Pennsylvania has adopted Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching as the overarching vision for effective instruction in the Commonwealth. The model focuses the complex activity of teaching by defining four domains of teaching responsibility:
 * Planning and preparation
 * Classroom environment
 * Instruction
 * Professional responsibilities
 * 1) Materials and Resources
 * Materials and resources include Voluntary Model Curriculum (VMC), 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). Enter in keywords and select a subject and grade level or course to find related materials and resources.
 * 1) Safe and Supportive Schools
 * Safe and Supportive Schools supplies resources and exemplars to promote active student engagement in a safe and positive learning environment. Areas within the element include the following:
 * [|**Engagement:**]School engagement is essential towards building academic success and a positive school climate. Engagement in school is a process of events and opportunities that lead to students gaining the skills and confidence to cope and feel safe in the school environment. These events and opportunities include relationships, respect for diversity and school participation.
 * [|**Safety:**]School safety refers to the security of the school setting and school-related activities as perceived and experienced by all stakeholders, including families, caregivers, students, school staff, and the community. School safety encompasses both emotional and physical safety, and is influenced by positive and negative behaviors of students and staff as well as the presence of substance use in the school setting and during school-related activities.
 * [|**Environment:**]School environment refers to the extent to which school settings promote student safety and student health. Environment is inclusive of all aspects of a school – its academic components, its physical and mental health supports and services, its physical building and location within a community, and its disciplinary procedures.
 * 1) 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 this tool, you can locate specific standards, anchors, and eligible content based on subject area and grade level or course. Select the subject area and grade level, or select the course to view the related standards.