Our Beliefs

To learn about SAS’ Mission and Learning Goals, we recommend you just look around.

At SAS, the beliefs we hold and the goals we have come to life on a daily basis. Walk one of our beautiful campuses and you’ll see project-based, experiential, and service learning, after-school activities, and personalized counseling. You’ll see students bringing our Mission to life by gaining the courage to live their dreams. You’ll see faculty members demonstrating the fact that learning never stops. You’ll see a diverse group of students collaborating effectively, communicating skillfully, and thinking critically. And by the time they don the SAS cap and gown, you’ll see students who have evolved into ethical global citizens, poised and prepared to make the world around us a better place.

Please come on in, and find out more about what you can experience when you choose Shanghai American School.

Our Mission

Our Learning Goals

A Shanghai American School education equips students to transfer their knowledge and skills beyond the classroom, in authentic settings, over a lifetime.

CRITICAL THINKERS - SAS students are critical thinkers who develop ideas and construct arguments by questioning, evaluating, synthesizing, and considering perspective. SAS students…

Consider multiple approaches and perspectives to evaluate decisions
Ask relevant, discerning questions to stimulate reflection
Evaluate evidence and sources to support arguments and conclusions
Synthesize and apply new understanding to a variety of contexts

SKILLFUL COMMUNICATORS - SAS students are skillful communicators who advocate for self, others, and ideas in more than one language by listening, responding, and articulating through multiple media. SAS students…

Use appropriate listening skills to integrate information across contexts
Respond to emotions in self and in others
Articulate ideas with exceptional clarity
Select an appropriate medium to communicate with an audience

EFFECTIVE COLLABORATORS - SAS students are effective collaborators who help teams innovate outcomes to achieve a goal by holding themselves and others accountable, contributing in productive ways, and sustaining respectful interactions. SAS students…

Hold themselves and others accountable for team agreements
Build on the perspectives and contributions of others
Develop and implement appropriate strategies to manage interactions

CREATIVE LEARNERS - SAS students are creative learners who engage their imaginations to generate novel ideas, demonstrate flexible thinking, evaluate approaches, and take action. SAS students….

Use their imagination to generate novel ideas
Demonstrate flexible thinking
Use strategies to evaluate the creative process
Execute ideas with exceptional clarity and effectiveness

ETHICAL GLOBAL CITIZENS - SAS students are ethical global citizens who take action based on informed decisions filtered through empathy, integrity, sustainability, and social justice. SAS students…

Acknowledge and respect perspectives and cultures with consideration and care
Take action with sincerity and honesty
Make decisions and take actions to impact sustainability significantly
Engage in authentic opportunities to impact others positively

Our Learning Principles

Imagine a community of integrity and compassion where all learners are:

Empowered to make choices about how they reach clearly defined learning goals;
Engaged in collaboration to solve authentic problems;
Safe to take intellectual risks while persevering through challenges;
Supported with modeling, differentiation, specific feedback, and opportunities for reflection and revision;
Passionate, intrinsically motivated, and inspired to action.

This is learning at Shanghai American School.

Our Values

We believe that:

Embracing diversity enriches individuals and communities
Acts of compassion and generosity of spirit create a better world
When individuals take responsibility for their own decisions, they are empowered to make positive impact
Each individual has intrinsic value and the potential to contribute to society
Collaboration is key to overcoming complex challenges and achieving common goals
Integrity is the foundation of enduring relationships, quality institutions and well-functioning communities
As global citizens we have a duty to care for the earth and its inhabitants to ensure the well-being of humankind
Creativity, critical thinking and a lifelong passion for learning are essential to personal fulfillment and to meet the challenges of the future.

LEARNING GOALS

Upon graduation, each SAS student will exhibit five Learning Goals that we believe ensure a successful future. They will be: Creative Learners, Critical Thinkers, Effective Collaborators, Skillful Communicators, and Ethical Global Citizens.

Shanghai American School

Our Mission

Our Learning Goals

Our Learning Principles

Our Values

LEARNING GOALS

Pudong Campus

Puxi Campus