Just about anyone involved in education will tell you it is a road that travels both ways. Teachers depend on their own professional development and ongoing learning curve to best teach their students.

When elementary art teacher Jessica Balsley of Osage was beginning her teaching career, she found she lacked the resources to continue her own education.

“My art room was perfectly organized, my lessons were planned out far in advance, I felt prepared and ready for an amazing year,” says Balsley, founder and president of The Art of Education University (AOEU). “Then reality set in. The roadblock that hit me the hardest was professional development. There was a lack of art-specific resources for the classroom.”

“School districts in many states require professional development for a teacher to move up the salary scale or renew their teaching license,” explains Nolan Denker, director of marketing for AOEU. “But traditional...