Arkansas Department of Education

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), headquartered in Little Rock, is the state education agency of Arkansas for public schools. Founded in 1931, its responsibilities include accrediting schools, assisting Arkansas schools and their school districts in developing their curricula, approving the textbooks used in state public schools, licensing teachers, and providing continuing education programs. The ADE consists of five divisions: Division of Academic Accountability, Division of Fiscal and Administrative Services, Division of Human Resources, Division of Learning Services, and Division of Research and Technology.

The department maintains the Arkansas Public School Computer Network for the purpose of providing internet access in public schools. ADE also runs a distance learning program through its Distance Learning Center and partners with the Arkansas Educational Television Network on the Arkansas IDEAS portal, which offers professional development courses to improve academic and teaching knowledge and skills of its personnel.

The Augmented Benchmark Examinations is a test required by the Arkansas Department of Education in support of NCLB. Starting with the 2007-08 school year, a criterion-referenced test mandated by the state was merged with the Stanford Achievement Test, Series 10 to form the Augmented Benchmark Examinations. It is administered in grades 3-8 in ELA and mathematics, additionally, grades 5 and 7 are tested in science.

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