Above and Beyond the Core (ABC) specializes in providing curriculum-focused professional development. Our aim is to deliver respectful, common-sense support that helps educators provide the richest learning opportunities possible for their students.

Our professional development is organized around seven major categories: Leadership, Technology, Standards, Content, Instruction, Assessment, and Accountability. For more information on ABC and our resources, click here.

Standards come and standards go, assessments come and assessments go, accountability systems come and go, but good teaching is good teaching. Preparing every student for success needs to be more than a legal mandate. It needs to be the professional and moral compass that guides our decisions.

Arkansas’ teachers are faced with the nitty-gritty, day-to-day implementation of the Arkansas Standards. The ELA Standards call for a “well-developed, content-rich curriculum” that builds over time. The Math Standards call for increased focus and coherence across grades while emphasizing conceptual understanding, procedural skill, and fluency. Next Generation Science Standards signal a new approach to science education with three dimensions of learning expectations.

Managing complex change has never been easy. There is no one right answer to any question. There are no assurances of being 100 percent accurate in every decision that we make. However, making decisions based on the best information available at the time and moving forward with a plan, which will most certainly be revised along the way, is critical.

Let us help by providing you with the latest curriculum research and trends while asking thought-provoking questions designed to help you think through decisions that impact your curriculum system.