Program Evaluation Plan for Arkansas School of the 21st Century Program
CUR732
University of Phoenix

Program Evaluation Plan for Arkansas School of the 21st Century Program
Background
The Paragould School of the 21st Century was the first site implementing the Zigler model in August 1992. Startup funds were initially provided by Paragould businesses to renovate an older elementary campus. The district has grown from the Elmwood campus of seven classrooms infants – four year olds to opening the Oakwood building housing 5 additional classrooms. S21C is an integral part of the Paragould School District. By August, 2013, seven preschool classrooms will join kindergarten and first grade students at the new Paragould Primary building
At that time, 21C programs were active in 34 school districts (representing 24 percent of all districts in Arkansas) and included 95 sites across Arkansas (Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, 2010). This diverse system for delivering education to our youngest children can have some distinct advantages, but it requires clear and effective strategies to align and integrate Pre-K education with kindergarten and elementary schools, especially through the 3rd grade, despite the separate, different nature of Pre-K agencies. Optimally, teachers from Pre-K through the third grade should share, coordinate and align the learning plans for each child in each Pre-K classroom. This type of seamless integration of curriculum and learning is also a big challenge. To make this kind of integration actually happen, the state must have a workable, flexible structure for cooperation. Luckily, Arkansas already has such a model in the School for the 21st Century. This cooperative network of schools, known as the 21C Network, has joined schools together across the state to promote coordinated planning, evaluation, and implementation of innovative methods of teaching and learning.
Desired State of the Program
The importance of networks such as 21-C lie not only in their cooperation, integration and the high quality of their programs, but also as the vehicle for spurring