A formative evaluation of components of Mississippi's 21st century redesign initiative for grades 7, 8, and 9

This applied dissertation was designed to provide a formative evaluation of junior high and high school curriculum reform as part of a state initiated pilot program in a rural school district in southwest Mississippi. The purpose of the program was to address and respond to the 8th-grade technology literacy requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (2003) in regards to decreasing the high school dropout rate and improving the school attendance rate. In Mississippi, the high school dropout rate was higher than the national average. To combat this growing trend, the Mississippi Department of Education introduced a curriculum redesign beginning with Grades 7 and 9 during the 2007–2008 school year and continued with Grade 8 in the 2008–2009 school year.;A process and product evaluation utilizing Stufflebeam's (2007) CIPP model was used to provide a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of components of this curriculum redesign that helped the stakeholders of this curriculum redesign make decisions on the successful continuation of this program. The evaluation included the collection of attendance data, teacher lesson plans, and school and district professional development plans.;An analysis of the data revealed that the program resulted in decreased dropout rate results after only 2 years of implementation but failed to decrease in the average daily attendance rate. The most successful component of the program was the execution of the redesigned curriculum even though it was not implemented in the intended period. The research compared attendance and dropout rates for the target schools from school years prior to the program implementation with attendance and dropout rates of the school year during implementation and the subsequent school year. The researcher recommended that the program be continued.