What is Professional Development in Arkansas?

The Arkansas Department of Education has partnered with the Arkansas Educational Television Network to meet the professional development needs of K-12 licensed educators by offering research-based, technology-delivered professional development courses to improve academic and teaching knowledge and skills of certified personnel.

We invite you to browse through the "anytime, anywhere" online professional development offerings located in Arkansas IDEAS educational portal's Professional Development catalog. Please keep in mind that new courses are added as they are developed or approved. All courses located within this educational portal have been approved by ADE for professional development. The rewarding of professional development credit; however, is solely at the discretion of the local school district.

This "anytime, anywhere" access to online professional development originated from The Arkansas Online Professional Development Initiative, Act 2318 of 2005. The intent and the goal of this legislation was to provide equity and accessibility of content and technology training to public K-12 teachers in Arkansas. It is believed that high-quality professional development which is accessible and equitably delivered to teachers in every district will positively impact Arkansas students by leveling the playing field in all areas of the state. 

Section 9.02 of the ADE Professional Development Rules and Regulations of July 2005 states that "the criteria for evaluating the impact of professional development shall be the improvement of student achievement on State criterion-referenced assessments, State norm-referenced assessments, other related indicators as defined by ACTAAP (Arkansas Comprehensive Testing and Academic Assessment Program) and the evaluations of the professional development offerings. These data shall be used to revise ACSIP (Arkansas Comprehensive School Improvement Plan) and the district, school, and individual professional development plans associated with the local improvement plan."