An Expanded School Day and Calendar: Unlike traditional public schools, eStem students will attend school nine hours each day and will benefit from an expanded school calendar of 200 days of school attendance.

Location: Located in the urban redevelopment of downtown Little Rock, eStem students will participate in daily instruction in the historic Arkansas Gazette building at 3rd and Louisiana Streets. eStem Elementary classes will be held on the first floor, middle school classes on the second floor and high school students will attend classes on the third floor.

Neighborhood Resources: eStem’s urban setting is near the Central Arkansas Library System, a neighbor to cultural offerings like the Rep Theatre and the Arkansas Arts Center, close to several Bio-Venture and technology companies, and surrounded by several financial institutions including one of the largest investment banking firms off Wall Street.

Transportation: Parents will be responsible for transporting their children to and from school. However, the school will provide Central Arkansas Transit bus tokens to students who need transportation to downtown Little Rock.

Frequency of Assessments: eStem will utilize quarterly Measures of Assessment Progress (MAP), a computerized student assessment tool by Northwest Educational Assessment that accurately reflects the instructional level of each student and measures growth over time.

Incentives for Classroom Teachers: eStem will provide our teaching staff with a Pay for Performance model that rewards individual student achievement and is responsive to staffing needs (hard to staff subjects; low socio-economics; multiple times to adjust instruction during year)