Arkansas Department of Education gets $3.6 million grant to improve educator skills

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Department of Education will use a multi-million dollar federal grant to improve and expand educator skills.

The $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education is designated to empower educators to use data to improve instruction and student learning. Recipients will use their training to develop and implement assessment methods to measure progress.

ADE officials said the grant will support specific programs:

• partner with select districts to pilot new teaching & assessment practices;
• develop professional learning that empowers educators to interpret & use test data to guide instruction and learning;
• strengthen collaboration among educators who use & share data;
• expand the program statewide; and
• create micro-credentials in data & assessment literacy that educators can add to their licenses.

ADE Secretary Jacob Oliva said the grant comes at an important time.

“We are pleased to receive this grant to improve data literacy among educators in Arkansas,” Oliva said. “As we prepare to release test scores next month from the new assessment administered this spring, the grant will help us provide ongoing support to educators to assist with understanding the results and using them to guide student learning.”

Officials said Arkansas was one of the 10 states to receive the grant from the Department of Education’s Competitive Grants for State Assessment Programs fund.

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