The SRA System is comprised of three main components:
- Database-driven delivery of curriculum
- Collection of continuous, real-time data that provides information on student achievement to educators and parents
- Message center that facilitates communication between SRA and educators
SRA designs its curriculum to reflect best teaching practices. Our design team determines what to teach by studying standards and outcomes from a variety of states and provinces. Then it organizes these objectives into groups that are related by concept (e.g., letter-sound correspondence, single-digit addition). For each concept, SRA then designs a self-contained learning unit called a Curriculum Object, which assesses student understanding of the concept, provides learning activities where needed, and reassesses to verify that authentic learning has taken place.
Students hear a brief introduction describing the purpose of the first Curriculum Object.
Students take a placement assessment.
If they demonstrate particular areas of need, students are assigned learning activities that address these needs.
Once they have completed the activities, students retake the required portions of the assessment.
When they complete the assessment successfully, students move to the placement assessment for the next Curriculum Object.
Once students complete all of the assigned Curriculum Objects for a level, they take the Level Assessment. Successful completion of this assessment confirms that a student is ready to progress from one level to the next in the curriculum sequence.
As students progress through each Curriculum Object, the educator is able to monitor student results in real time through Progress Manager, or adjust content delivery through the Curriculum Manager.
Educators are able to check the Message Center for time-sensitive messages on a specific student's performance. For example, when a student completes a level successfully, the educator is informed and advised to promote the student to the next level in the SRA curriculum. The Message Center also serves to heighten awareness regarding students who are struggling. If a student fails an assessment on multiple occasions, the educator is notified and directed to the "Educator Resources" section of our site; these resources are designed to help a student improve specific areas of weakness, and include detailed information on all of the Curriculum Objects, strategies for teaching concepts in alternative ways, and lesson plans intended to provide reinforcement, extension and enrichment.