Marlow, UK - 25 February, 2014 – Five years ago, SAS began distributing SAS® Curriculum Pathways® at no cost to all educators. Challenged to engage today’s students while navigating budget constraints, they are turning to SAS’ digital curriculum content in record numbers. In 2013 alone, more than 350 schools and nearly 500 teachers used the standards-based, interactive learning tools for GCSE and A-Level students.
More than 18,000 students have created personal SAS Curriculum Pathways accounts since SAS introduced them in late 2013. Meanwhile, home school users doubled in the last two years to more than 10,000.
SAS Curriculum Pathways provides resources in English language, arts, mathematics, science, social studies and Spanish for traditional, virtual and home schools. Built to accommodate how students learn, SAS Curriculum Pathways provides interactive content that can be differentiated to meet varied needs. Learner-centred activities that target higher-order thinking skills include measurable outcomes and are linked to state and Common Core standards.
SAS UK is also funding part-time mathematics teacher, David Kaplan to promote SAS Curriculum Pathways in schools across London and the South-East. This is a collaboration with the University of Plymouth’s Centre for Statistical Education and the Royal Statistical Society.
Geoffrey Taylor, head of academic programme at SAS UK & Ireland, said: “It’s vital that pupils are given an opportunity to fully develop their interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects from an early age, and this compelling digital content is a great way to fire their enthusiasm. Only by producing more school leavers and students with a solid grounding in these subjects can we meet the rising demand for people with skills in handling and analysing big data.”
SAS is working to integrate SAS Curriculum Pathways web-based resources with related mobile education apps. Soon, SAS Curriculum Pathways logins will give users seamless access to SAS Flash Cards and SAS Read Aloud.
SAS Flash Cards features more than 100,000 flash cards plus tools to create custom decks. Currently, some 5,000 user-created decks cover wide-ranging topics, from the ABCs to SAS programming certification. The SAS Flash Cards app is available free from the App Store for iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®, and from the Windows Store for Windows 8. The app was launched more than 2 million times in 2013.
Several apps are currently exclusive to the iPad. More than 40,000 books have been recorded on SAS Read Aloud, which teaches and guides early readers. SAS Read Aloud provides three reading modes: Read to Me, Help Me Read, and Read by Myself. Parents, teachers and students can record themselves reading the book of their choice from a growing collection of nearly 50 books. Readers see words highlighted as the familiar voice speaks them.
SAS Math Stretch fosters early math literacy, teaching students in primary schools how to think about numbers in new ways associated with success in higher-order math, such as algebra. SAS Math Stretch promotes the concept of numeracy, and the ability to reason and apply simple numerical concepts. This approach improves basic math skills linked to higher performance by senior school students on standardised math tests.
SAS Data Notebook lets students control their own learning using templates for goal setting, task management, record keeping and personal reflection. After compiling a data notebook, students receive an organised, comprehensive view of achievements, learning strategies that worked, and areas for improvement.
Downloaded more than 10,000 times, SAS Gloss makes it simple for teachers to electronically create, distribute and collect worksheets, tests and quizzes. Students can add graphics and imagery to projects and easily share work on SAS Gloss with teachers, family or friends.
In addition to the many SAS digital learning resources, SAS analytics and business intelligence software is used at more than 3,000 educational institutions worldwide for teaching, research and administration. SAS has more than three decades of experience working with educational institutions.
Notes to Editors
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 65,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.