Can Technology Narrow the Black-White Achievement Gap? the eMINTS Instructional Model of Inquiry-Based Teaching, Combined with Multimedia Tools in the Classroom, Improves Test Scores for All Students

Our fourth-grade classrooms buzzed with students discussing their "Jefferson City or Bust" WebQuest (www.emints.org/info/bootheel/ smithm/wq/jeffcity) as they neared the end of an intensive four-week project. Groups of students had crafted arguments to convince their local school board to allow a field trip to the state capitol so they could explore their state's government in person and in depth. Just one year before, a majority of these students were performing at the lowest measured ("basic") level in their communication skills on the state test administered to third graders. Some observers attributed this performance to the "Black/African American" oval filled in by the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) facilitator on each child's state test cover sheet. Yet this same group demonstrated remarkable gains on their fourth-grade standardized test results. Not only did they improve their test results, but these once "basic" students were now confidently preparing PowerPoint presentations and accompanying letters to persuade district administrators and the school board that the class was ready, both financially and educationally, for their proposed field trip. To a large degree, the changes in these students can be credited to the eMINTS (enhancing Missouri's Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies; www. emints.org) program, a collaborative educational program that uses technology to make a difference for children. The program is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the University of Missouri's Office of Academic Affairs, and focuses on the expectation that all students can reach higher levels of performance. It includes mechanisms for increasing quality parental involvement, and provides teachers with the professional development and in-class coaching needed to accomplish significant changes in their teaching practices. Studying the Achievement Gap NAEP results. A review of the National Assessment of Educational Progress' (nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard) results over the last 30 years reveals that the gap between black and white students narrowed during the 1970s and into the '80s as black students made considerable improvements, while the performance of white students over this same time remained mostly flat. However, the trend was reversed during the latter part of the '80s and into the '90s when the performance of black students flattened out and white student performance improved (Jaekyung Lee, "Racial and Ethnic Achievement Gap Trends: Reversing the Progress Toward Equity? " Educational Researcher, 2002, www.aera.net/ uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/ Journals/Educational_Researcher/ 3101/3101_Lee.pdf). While some educational programs have produced measured gains for black children, it remains unclear exactly which educational policies, programs, or practices both reduce the gap and sustain this reduction over time. However, the eMINTS program has undertaken rigorous external evaluation to determine the effect of its components--multimedia technology integrated into student-centered, inquiry-based teaching practices--on the black and white achievement gap, and research has proved that the program has been successful with a variety of students. MAP results. In one study of 39 schools in the 2002 cohort, for example, evaluators examined the MAP scores of students enrolled in eMINTS classrooms versus those enrolled in non-eMINTS classrooms (Analysis of 2003 MAP Results for eMINTS Students, eMINTS National Center, 2004, www.emints.org/evaluation reports/map2003.pdf). Among the findings: * There were positive differences among low-income students enrolled in eMINTS classrooms. On the fourth-grade mathematics test, for instance, enrollment in an eMINTS classroom reduced the MAP score difference (attributed to student poverty) by about half. * On the communication arts and mathematics tests, enrollment in an eMINTS classroom reduced the score deficit for students receiving special-education services (as indicated by the presence of an Individualized Education Program) by about half. …