Show-Me Curriculum Administrators Association
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
The Show-Me Curriculum Administrators Association (SMCAA) will provide support to member school districts for the development, implementation, and evaluation of local curriculum which is aligned to the Missouri Show-Me Standards, Grade Level Expectations, and that results in enhanced student achievement.(unchanged since initial-1998)
- Income
- $231,875
- Spending
- $259,316
- Spent on programs
- 80%
- Reserves
- 5.4 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- fees for its services, 59%
- Employees
- 5
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Fair: 69 out of 100. Higher than 32% of charities in its peer group (philanthropy, under $250k).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 5.4 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 2% of what it owns.
Living within its means
4 of 15Spending exceeded income by 12% of income.
Income trend
10 of 15Income fell 7% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1580% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 91% of charities in its peer group (philanthropy, under $250k).
Independent board
25 of 259 of 9 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (12)
- $48,810 spent. In total, SMCAA conducted 20 days of district specific training in 15 school districts conducting curriculum workshops with the objective of helping public school teachers and administrators understand the elements of effective curriculum and develop curriculum in subject specific areas aligned to the State Standards. In addition, much district work was targeted on instructional strategies, APR review, science understanding and providing quality feedback to teachers. Some of these days included in district training for Champion Teaching. All together these visits were attended by over 1000 educational staff members
- $42,534 spent. In July 2024, SMCAA conducted Quality Curriculum Retreat in person. This event was attended by 13 participants. During this statewide event, we looked at how education today is different from past years. Focus topics included information on durable skills and market value assets, developing success ready curricula, and protocols for evaluating and aligning instructional activities. Updates were also provided related to SMCAAs Foundational Social Studies curriculum, legislation impacting districts, and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) initiatives.We were able to host our Annual Fall Conference in October 2024. The theme for our conference was Supporting the Science of Reading Beyond the ELA Classroom. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Katie McKnight, a dedicated teacher and award-winning author with over 30 years of classroom experience. Our breakout sessions included topics ranging from The Power of Words: Vocabulary Development, Preparing Your Educators for Literacy at the College Level; and Supporting Literacy through AI and Beyond. Missouri Commissioner of Education, Dr. Karla Eslinger, provided a lunch keynote, and Susan German, DESE Coordinator of Curriculum provided timely and relevant updates as well. A total of 53 participants attended this event. Evaluations were good and we used recommendations for planning our 2025 Fall Conference. Our 2025 Winter Symposium theme was Bringing Our Curriculum to Life and was held in February 2025. It was not as well attended as in previous years due to conflicts with other state meetings and with having to reschedule due to inclement weather on the initial dates. We had a total of 32 attendees in person. This event included hosted presenters from DESE, focusing on Using Fine Arts to Bring Core Curriculum to Life, Updates on Resources Available to Bring Civics and Patriotism to Life, Shifting Classroom Practices that Lead to Mathematical Proficiency, Using Primary/First Hand Sources of Missourians to Bring ELA Non-Fiction to Life, and Addressing the Literacy Needs of Secondary Teachers and Students. Alex Demczak provided an engaging keynote on Bringing Leadership to Life. The Annual Curriculum Bootcamp in June 2024 was replaced with SMCAAs first Assessment Summit. The Summit focused on the six assessment tenets and how they could be utilized to create a truly guaranteed and viable written, taught, and assessed curriculum. A pre-Summit was held, giving attendees the opportunity to learn from assessment vendors that were approved by DESE as part of their literacy initiative. This event was planned by using direct feedback related to DESE initiatives and assessment. Thirty three individuals attended this new event. After the Summit the decision was made to move back to a curriculum focus for the 2025 June event. The 2024 Instructional Leadership training in June focused on Meeting the Needs of Our New and Non-Traditional Teachers. Participants were divided based on their role and training was provided for each group separately. This event had 32 participants attending the two-day event, with 13 attending the leadership strand and 19 participating in the teacher strand. Sessions in both strands were designed to help provide techniques and strategies to help new teachers be successful in their trade.
- $29,071 spent. During the 2024-2025 service year, SMCAA partnered with MOREnet (the Missouri Research and Education Network) to provide Missouri districts a free site to view and submit open education resources (OER) specific to the state of Missouri. SMCAA worked at promoting the Missouri OER Commons website, while also serving as overseers of items submitted to the Proficiency Scales workgroup. SMCAA staff reviewed submissions to ensure all proficiency scales submitted were of high quality and provided accurate information for districts to use.
- $22,028 spent. ?EMBARC (formerly, BYOC): SMCAA also conducted 5 in person or virtual training sessions with EMBARC. EMBARC is designed to follow the Understanding by Design format of curriculum development embraced by SMCAA. Teachers determine learning targets that address state/national standards, organize them into units, identify the topics to be addressed in each unit and develop aligned assessments, learning activities, and instructional methods to assist students in the mastery of the learning targets. The tool runs reports to assist districts in the assessment of how well their written curriculum is addressing student learning. The aim is that teachers use and adjust their written curriculum to guide effective instruction for student learning. In addition, SMCAA hosted one series of EMBARC Users Group meeting with 20 participants in attendance including EMBARC Users and those considering its use.
- $21,671 spent. SMCAA held Regional Curriculum meetings in September 2024, January 2025, and March of 2025. These meetings provided all up-to-date information happening at the State level in curriculum and instruction, as well as a short training course in specific areas of interest to our members. In total, 377 members and nonmembers participated. Some of these meetings were virtual for member convenience and others were in person.
- $21,671 spent. We offered four two-hour free webinars on important topics in education offered to all our members with a total of 71 participants from 30 different districts attending.
- $21,670 spent. SMCAA offered two cohorts during the 24-25 school year: Instructional Coaches Cohort and the New Curriculum Directors Cohort. The New Curriculum Directors Cohort aimed at assisting Curriculum Directors who had been in their position five years or less. The Instructional Coaches Cohort was designed to aid and provide support to instructional coaches within our member districts. This years two cohorts consisted of 28 individuals representing 23 districts. Each cohort met monthly, focusing on key topics of interest pertinent to the jobs of the attendees.
- Champion Teaching is a two-day training that can be offered both to individual districts and regionally. Champion Teaching has taken on a life of its own in a way. More and more districts have heard of the training and use it to assist with their continuing new staff turnover. The purpose of the training is to introduce techniques that create and sustain a classroom environment that provides safety, predictability, and stability. Routines and procedures become habits that mitigate stress for both students and teachers. This training was quite popular this year with 12 in-district training sessions with over 200 teachers participating.
- One Day Virtual Trainings Offered -- 75 attendees Member and Non-Member?Curriculum Director Trainings Levels I and II?Curriculum Design and Review?Developing Aligned Assessments?Developing and Using Proficiency Scales?Lets Talk Science!?Successful Instructional Coaching?A Deeper Look at Student Engagement?Using Curriculum Cycles?Curriculum Writing for the Non-Core Content Areas?Lets Talk Elementary Social Studies!?Lets Talk Math!?APR Deep-Dive: Success Ready Student MeasuresOn-Site In-Person Trainings Offered 60 attendees Member and Non-Member?Curriculum Director Trainings Levels I and II?APR Deep-Dive: Success Ready Student Measures?Champion Teaching
- ACT Instructional Master Trainings were held in conjunction with ACT certified trainers in order to provide ways to help districts not only align their curriculum to the Missouri Learning Standards, but also ACT Standards for the benefit of their students. We were able to offer 2 days of training with 48 teachers participating.
- SMCAA offered Monthly Meetups each month as a way to bring districts together to network, share ideas, and to learn from each other. Topics discussed each month were those submitted by district members. Attendance varied each month, based on the topic, ranging from 8 participants to 16 participants.
- SMCAA provides districts with a formal Curriculum Audit service that includes a thorough on-site review of a chosen content area(s). The purpose of this service can be for a variety of different reasons including overall or specific process and content, requirement check, effectiveness, ease of use, and its connection to instructional improvement. In addition to a basic overview, districts can choose the focus of the audit according to content and need. A thorough written report is provided along with an in-person report of findings.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending June 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since October 1998.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.