Standard+Aligned+Systems+(SAS)

Standards Aligned System
The **Standards Aligned System** (SAS) is, according to their website, a comprehensive approach to support student achievement across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. If you would like to visit their webstite, click on the logo below:



This website was so useful for all my courses this semester. I use this website to find the standards for each of my lesson plans; state standards are a requirement of every lesson plan I write and implement. In this course specifically we used SAS to evaluate a lesson plan from the website and also wrote one to share on the website.

We reviewed lesson plans that were already on the website using 10 requirements: validity, reliability, authenticity, challenge, clarity of tasks and assessment criteria, important content, feasibility, high level processes, differentiation, and technology use. The lesson that I looked at was recommended for 3rd or 4th grade; it was a lesson on the water cycle. After looking at this lesson, I concluded that it was well written. The weakest aspect was that it was not challenging enough; this could be improved by allowing the students to do more work independently and giving them more meaningful extension activities. On the other hand, the strongest area of the lesson was feasibility. I thought that it was very appropriate for the grade level. Overall, the lesson provided a good example of following the standards set by SAS. Here is a link to view the lesson I evaluated: The Water Cycle. Two of my classmates (Kathleen T. and Caitlin) and I worked together to write a lesson we believed would meet the expectations of SAS. Our lesson taught civics and government. Using the template provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, we wrote a lesson focusing on the 3 branches of the United States government. Our plan had to include the subject, grade level, a title, standards, tiered vocabulary, objectives, essential questions, the amount of time needed, materials, suggested instructional strategies, instructional procedures, a formative assessment, and related resources. You can take a look at our lesson template using the following button: