The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts STEM Pathways program is serving a record number of students and educators across the state for the 2025-26 academic year.
The hybrid online learning and teacher professional development program aiding 4,059 students and 105 teachers throughout Arkansas through its Computer Science Plus, Advanced Biology Plus and Advanced Statistic Plus cohorts. The Computer Science Plus Program is supporting 3,620 students and 52 educators alone.
The Advanced Biology Plus program is supporting 372 students and 48 teachers. There are 67 students and five educators enrolled in the Advanced Statistics Plus program, which is in its fourth year.
“The continued strength of STEM Pathways lies in its unique approach to supporting educators,” said Lori Kagebein, director of STEM Pathways. “We’re not just providing curriculum or content; we’re building genuine partnerships with teachers across Arkansas throughout the entire school year. Our instructors serve as ‘buddy teachers,’ creating relationships built on trust where educators know they can always reach out with questions, challenges or ideas.
“That year-round availability and support fill a critical gap in professional development. Teachers don’t have to navigate advanced coursework or computer science licensure alone. They have a dedicated team at ASMSA invested in their success and their students’ success, and that makes all the difference.”
The STEM Pathways program began in 2015 with the creation of the Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative. That program offered high schools across the state the opportunity to expand their computer science curriculum while receiving guidance and professional development from ASMSA staff members. While ASMSA instructors taught some computer science courses for schools through digital learning, the main emphasis was preparing educators to gain licensure in computer science through the Computer Science Plus program as a response to the legislative need to increase the number of licensed computer science educators statewide.
That includes offering summer boot camps to introduce teachers to computer science. Those teachers receive guidance throughout the school year from ASMSA, including continuing professional development through weekly video meetings and a follow-up camp at the conclusion of the academic year. The goal is to prepare those educators to earn their license to teach computer science while also becoming the primary computer science teacher at their school. Additional camps are held throughout the school year to prepare educators for the licensure test.
The program expanded in recent years to offer a middle school coding block and the Advanced Biology Plus program. In the Advanced Biology Plus program, instructors around the state receive professional development from ASMSA’s life science specialists in the instruction of AP Biology. ASMSA’s biology teachers guide camps prior to the beginning of the school year. They then help educators prepare their curriculum for the year and provide unique lab learning activities that the individual schools may not be able to offer otherwise.
The program expanded again in 2022 with the addition of the Advanced Statistics Plus program, providing mathematics educators with instructional assistance and curriculum guidance for statistics students.
STEM Pathways is made possible in part by an annual grant from the Arkansas Department of Education.
ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice noted the work of programs like STEM Pathways and the Talent Identification Program (ASMSA-TIP) are the heart of the school’s legislated mission.
“At ASMSA, we believe that talent development is not limited to one campus,” Alderdice said. “Instead, it’s a statewide commitment. STEM Pathways allows us to grow student potential through advanced coursework while simultaneously equipping teachers with the confidence, content expertise and support to sustain those opportunities long after the cohort ends.”
Schools and educators interested in participating in STEM Pathways can contact Kagebein at kagebeinl@asmsa.org. Additional details are available online at https://asmsa.me/digitallearning.