The Impact of the &quot;Enhancing Missouri&apos;s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies&quot; (eMINTS) Program on Student Achievement, 21st-Century Skills, and Academic Engagement--Second-Year Results
Author: Meyers, Coby
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Accountability,Educational Strategies,Educational Technology,Professional Development,State Standards,Educational Assessment,Educational Practices,Inquiry,Curriculum Design,Educational Quality,Communities of Practice,Technology Integration,Active Learning,Student Projects,Problem Solving,Program Implementation,Grade 7,Grade 8,Middle School Students,Outcomes of Education,Rural Schools,Poverty Areas,Academic Achievement,Statistical Significance

Despite years of implementing standards-based accountability systems, many teachers today lack the necessary preparation to develop standards-based instructional strategies and to inform decisions utilizing student assessments. The eMINTS (&quot;Enhancing Missouri's Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies&quot;) National Center at the University of Missouri (UM), in partnership with the Missouri Department of Higher Education (DHE), offers the eMINTS professional development (PD) program to teams of educators, especially those serving high-need students. eMINTS PD generates building wide reform by helping teachers master the translation of any state standards and information from assessments into engaging classroom practices that employ technology. The program is based on four underlying research-based components: &quot;inquiry-based learning,&quot; &quot;high-quality lesson design,&quot; &quot;community of learners,&quot; and &quot;technology integration,&quot; and addresses issues identified as barriers in the consistent use of standards-based instruction and technology. The program provides teachers with more than 250 hours of PD spanning two years and support that includes monthly classroom visits. As part of refining and improving eMINTS PD, eMINTS staff integrated the Intel® Teach Elements Program recently, adding a third year of PD to help teachers sustain and build on the first two years of eMINTS PD. The third year combines online and face to face training for teachers to expand their use of project-based learning. Teachers also gain access to Intel's suite of online tools designed to involve students in 21st century higher-order thinking and problem solving. The current report focuses on the impact after the second year of implementation of the eMINTS program. It addresses the following research questions: (1) What is the impact of the eMINTS Comprehensive Program on the performance of Grades 7 and 8 students in mathematics and communication arts?; (2) What is the impact of the eMINTS Comprehensive Program on the 21st century skills, including communication, technology literacy, and critical thinking, of Grades 7 and 8 students?; and (3) What is the impact of the eMINTS Comprehensive Program on the academic engagement of Grades 7 and 8 students? The study focused on grade 7 and 8 students in 60 high-poverty rural Missouri schools. This study used a cluster randomized design that randomly assigned 60 high-poverty rural Missouri middle schools to one of three groups in Fall 2010 (Year 0). Estimated impacts after the second year of implementation on all student achievement outcomes--mathematics, communication arts, and 21st century skills--were not statistically significant. Impacts on student engagement are negative (with a 0.25 effect size) and statistically significant, indicating that student engagement was lower in eMINTS schools than in the control schools. A table is appended.