On August 30, 2021, Brian W. Campbell, PDE Director of the Bureau of Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction, disseminated a PennLink to PA school entities titled 2021 Standards Aligned System Institute Focusing Forward: Creating Innovative Educational Pathways. The memo states that the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s (PDE) 2021 SAS Institute, Focusing Forward: Creating Innovative Educational Pathways, will be held December 6-8, 2021, at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center. (Note: Both live and virtual options will be available.) An Act 45 program will commence on Sunday afternoon.

In addition, PDE is excited to announce a partnership between the SAS Institute and the Data Summit, scheduled for March 20-23, 2022! Benefits to attending both conferences include:- An alignment between SAS Institute and Data Summit sessions- A discounted registration fee for attending both conferences- A combined 50-hour Act 45 program A draft agenda and a request for proposals are available at https://www.iu5.org/sas. Deadline for proposal submissions is September 7, 2021. Registration will open October 1, 2021. Questions may be directed to [email protected] or [email protected].