Lawrence County is a rural community located in Northeast Arkansas, and the Imboden Area Charter School, Inc. (IACS) is an open enrollment charter school, newly relocated to Black Rock, that was organized as a nonprofit corporation by community volunteers in an effort to offer a high quality educational program to students in the area. The school opened in August, 2002 and has continued to thrive! 

Imboden Area Charter School serves students from kindergarten through eighth grades and draws its students from the local and surrounding school districts as well as home-schools. Long range plans include expanding through twelfth grade.  

Historically, students have been served from Biggers, Black Rock, Bono, Cave City, Cherokee Village, Delaplaine, Hardy, Hoxie, Imboden, Lynn, Maynard, Ozark Acres, Pocahontas, Portia, Ravenden, Ravenden Springs, Smithville, Strawberry, Swifton, Walnut Ridge, Warm Springs, and Williford.

The key factors for success are a research-based learning program called Destination Excellence and a management program based on William Glasser’s principles of human behavior. Highlights include parent participation, multi-age grouping, differentiated learning, a rigorous curriculum, and technology integrated into curriculum, instruction, and assessment.