What Project ARC, LLC does

Project ARC, LLC (operating as Project ARC, PBC, a Public Benefit Corporation) is a Berthoud, Colorado-based education company founded in 2014 that designs professional learning, tools, and resources to help K-12 educators implement authentic, project-based learning and assessment. The company's core methodology is the APLE (Authentic Project-Learning Experiences) framework, supported by its proprietary Five Stages of Project Assessment framework (Challenge & Purpose; Inquiry & Ideas; Context & Perspective; Actions & Consequences; Options & Opportunities) and a library of Harvested APLEs (pre-designed, classroom-vetted projects). Project ARC is also a published thought leader in the PBL space, with four books released through Routledge spanning grades K-3, 4-8, and 9-12, plus a monthly DisEd Podcast and APLE Bites Blog.

The company monetizes through a hybrid revenue model combining bespoke professional services (Tailored Professional-Learning Inquiries delivered as one-, two-, or three-day workshops; virtual coaching; and Community Mapping engagements) with self-paced digital products (Online APLE Bites Courses sold to individual educators and cohorts), physical and digital resources (Formative Assessment Cards, Assessment Planning Placemat, Learning ARC Rubric sold via Square checkout), and book royalties via Routledge/Amazon retail. In November 2023, Project ARC launched ORCHAReD, its AI-powered formative assessment tool built on the Five Stages framework, currently in beta. ORCHAReD accepts multimodal student work (text, images, PDFs, charts, mind-maps), evaluates submissions against district and national standards, generates individualized actionable feedback, performs class-level analysis in approximately 20 minutes per task, and flags both learner struggle points and assessment design issues.

The company serves K-12 schools and districts, statewide education organizations (with active engagements in California, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico), and individual educators. Named enterprise customers include Albuquerque Public Schools and West Clermont Local School District. Project ARC is a Certified B Corporation, an awarded vendor on TIPS USA purchasing cooperative, and a 2026 Tools Competition Catalyst Prize Finalist for ORCHAReD. The company partners with Community Share, HeadRush Learning, Evaluation by Design, and Appy.AI to extend its community-connected learning ecosystem. Operating with 1-10 employees and no disclosed external funding, Project ARC is independently owned and operated by co-leaders Dayna Laur and Tim Kubik, Ph.D.

Name

Project ARC, LLC

Legal name

Project ARC, PBC

Website

https://proj-arc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Project ARC, a B Corp founded in 2014, designs professional learning, tools, and resources that help K-12 schools and statewide education organizations implement authentic project-based learning. Its APLE methodology and Five Stages assessment framework support the AI-powered ORCHAReD assessment tool.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Education Professional Development

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Project-Based/Inquiry-Based Learning (School-Delivered) (EDAJAFAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Assessment, Testing & Analytics Platforms (Formative/Summative) (EDAJAMAC), Portfolio, Performance & Rubric-Based Assessment Platforms (EDAFADAL), Test Item Banks, Question Authoring & Assessment Design Tools (EDAFADAC), Formative & Benchmark Assessment Content (K–12) (EDAGADAH)

Keywords

• Professional development services
• Project-based learning
• Formative assessment framework
• AI assessment platform
• Education consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Berthoud

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Professional Development Services: Tailored professional learning inquiries (TPLI) provided as one, two, or three-day workshops tailored to specific school communities. Includes coaching and training personally tailored to school needs.
2. Online Courses (APLE Bites): Self-paced, bite-sized virtual courses for teachers to learn about authentic project-learning experiences. Available as individual self-paced courses or cohort versions for groups of teachers working together.
3. Virtual Coaching: Ongoing collaborative support including 'Harvested APLE' implementation support or just-in-time instructional design support, sharing the cognitive load of sustaining a healthy learning ecosystem.
4. Community Mapping Services: Asset inventories and community mapping services that help school and district leaders identify local resources available for educators to design community-connected learning. Includes workshops and coaching.
5. Educational Publications: Sale of books on authentic project-based learning published through Routledge, including titles for grades K-3, 4-8, and 9-12, as well as 'Unprepared for What We Learned'.
6. Educational Resources: Sale of physical and digital resources including Formative Assessment Cards, Assessment Planning Placemat, and Learning ARC Rubric through Square checkout.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Project ARC designs and delivers professional learning, tools, and resources that help K-12 educators implement authentic, project-based learning and formative assessment. Its core methodology, Authentic Project-Learning Experiences (APLEs), pairs learners with community experts on real-world challenges, supported by the proprietary Five Stages of Project Assessment framework and the ORCHAReD AI-powered assessment tool that delivers personalized formative feedback at scale.

Product overview

Project ARC, PBC is a B-Corp certified education company offering a platform of professional development services and tools for authentic project-based learning. The core offering is APLEs (Authentic Project-Learning Experiences), supported by the proprietary Five Stages of Formative Assessment framework. The flagship AI product is ORCHAReD, an AI-powered assessment tool that manages formative assessment at scale. Additional offerings include Online APLE Bites Courses (10 self-paced modules), professional development services (Community Mapping, TPLI, Virtual Coaching), and supplementary resources (Rubrics, Assessment Cards, Planning Placemats). The company also publishes books and hosts a monthly DisEd Podcast. Together, these products form an integrated ecosystem designed to help schools transform learning through authentic, community-connected projects.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ORCHAReD: AI-powered assessment tool built on the Five-Stage framework for authentic formative assessments. Provides personalized, actionable feedback to improve student outcomes.
• APLE Bites
• APLEs

Products and services

• Authentic Project-Learning Experiences (APLEs) Project ARC's core methodology that allows learners to direct their inquiry around real-world challenges while connecting with community experts. APLEs emphasize learner agency and the role of teachers in project and assessment design, and are delivered to schools, districts, and statewide organizations as the basis for professional learning engagements.
• ORCHAReD AI Assessment Tool AI-powered formative assessment tool that evaluates student submissions (text, PDFs, charts, graphs, mind-maps, visual artifacts) against district or national standards and provides personalized, actionable feedback to improve student outcomes at scale, with class-level analysis in approximately 20 minutes per class task.
• Online APLE Bites Courses Self-paced and cohort-based online courses for individual teachers and groups of teachers to learn how to design and implement authentic project-learning experiences (APLEs) in their classrooms.
• Tailored Professional-Learning Inquiries (TPLI) Custom professional development workshops for schools and districts, focused on connecting classroom projects to the local community with strategies for scaffolding, assessment, and alignment to Graduate Profile outcomes.
• Virtual Coaching Sustained, flexible virtual coaching for schools that includes support using Harvested APLEs designed by expert coaches, or just-in-time instructional design support to share the cognitive load of sustaining a healthy learning ecosystem.
• Community Mapping and Assets Inventories Professional development service that helps school and district leaders identify local resources, experts, and partners available for educators to design community-connected learning, including workshops and coaching.
• Project ARC Formative Assessment Cards Physical and digital Formative Assessment Cards sold as a planning tool to help educators design formative assessments aligned with the Five Stages framework.
• Authentic Project-Based Learning Books (Routledge) Books published through Routledge on authentic project-based learning across grade bands K-3, 4-8, and 9-12, plus the title 'Unprepared for What We Learned', sold at standard retail pricing through Amazon and Routledge.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5:1 ratio between class time and assessment time when working with authentic assessments
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Community SharecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity Share is featured as a partner on Project ARC's website. They likely collaborate on community-connected learning initiatives, with Community Share potentially providing community resources and networks that enhance authentic project-learning experiences.
• Evaluation by DesignminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEvaluation by Design is featured as a partner, offering evaluation services that may complement Project ARC's assessment and learning frameworks.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Gooru: Gooru is a non-profit EdTech organization focused on competency-based learning, open navigation, and formative assessment in K-12. It overlaps with Project ARC's formative assessment and standards-alignment capabilities.
• PBLWorks (Buck Institute for Education): PBLWorks is the leading U.S. nonprofit dedicated exclusively to project-based learning, offering teacher PD, workshops, and the Gold Standard PBL framework. It is the most direct overlap with Project ARC's APLEs methodology and PD-led GTM.
• Kiddom: Kiddom is a K-12 platform combining curriculum, classroom management, and standards-based assessment. It overlaps with Project ARC's standards-aligned assessment and teacher workflow goals, with deeper tech infrastructure.
• Defined Learning: Defined Learning provides performance-task and project-based learning resources and PD for K-12, including task libraries and assessment rubrics. It competes directly with Project ARC's Harvested APLEs library and assessment tools.
• Edthena: Edthena is an AI-powered video coaching platform for teacher professional development. It is a comparable peer in teacher PD and AI-augmented feedback, addressing the same 'just-in-time instructional support' pain point Project ARC targets.

Emerging players

• MagicSchool AI: MagicSchool AI provides AI tools for K-12 teachers, including lesson planning, differentiation, and assessment assistance. It is an emerging competitor in AI-for-educators that could overlap with ORCHAReD's AI feedback capabilities.
• Edutopia (George Lucas Educational Foundation): Edutopia produces free PBL resources, videos, and PD content for educators, comparable to Project ARC's APLE Bites Blog and resources. It is a non-commercial peer that influences the same buyer audience.

Broad incumbents

• Newsela: Newsela offers instructional content plus formative assessment and PD for K-12, with broader reach across subjects. It overlaps with Project ARC's content + assessment + teacher learning combination at a much larger scale.
• Open Up Resources: Open Up Resources provides OER curricula and PD for K-12, with an emphasis on standards-aligned, student-centered instruction. It overlaps with Project ARC's curriculum-alignment and professional learning offerings at greater scale.
• XQ Institute: XQ Institute funds and supports high-school redesign around deeper learning, PBL, and student agency. It operates at a broader policy/funding level but competes for the same district transformation and Graduate Profile-style engagements.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ProjectARCPBC/podcasts

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Project ARC, LLC