July 2006 — Case Studies
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Utah: In Mint Condition
Using intensive professional development and technology-powered strategies, Utah’s eMINTS program is polishing up the performance of students in high-poverty schools across the state.
MONTY, A STUDENT in the Salt Lake City School District, was absent a large percentage of the time during his third-grade year, but he had a perfect attendance record in fourth grade. At his midyear parent-teacher conference, his mother commented to the teacher, “I don’t know what you’ve done different in school this year, but my son wakes me up in the morning to make sure I get him to school.”
What made the difference for Monty was the rigorous professional development and support his teacher, Carol Braegger, was receiving. Braegger spent four intensive hours after school every other Wednesday for two years, learning how to use cooperative learning and question-asking strategies to generate higher-order thinking from her students. She also learned how to design technology-infused classroom projects for teams of students. In addition, Braegger had a mentor come into her classroom twice a month to lend a hand with implementing or perfecting the strategies she was working on at each training session.
One other critical element was behind Monty’s change in attitude toward school: technology. His fourth-grade classroom had a 2-to-1 student-to-computer ratio. The student computers arrived in January. By then, Braegger had become expert in cooperative learning methods, designing student-centered activities, and applying technology in the classroom.
Braegger, like 40 other teachers across five Utah school districts, was participating in the professional development component of eMINTS (enhancing Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies), a state program targeting high-poverty schools. The eMINTS philosophy supports transforming teaching using inquiry-based methods and strategies powered by technology. Utah selected eMINTS as one of five models for its school districts to use for the competitive grant program available through Enhancing Education Through Technology funds. According to Kathy Webb, education specialist with the Utah State Office of Education, Utah chose eMINTS partly because of the success Missouri had with the program (see “
Making a Difference One Student at a Time,” July 2005), and because the program fit Utah’s own approach toward teaching and learning. Five districts— two rural and three urban—partnered to write for a competitive grant from the state, receiving $1.6 million over two years to replicate Missouri’s eMINTS professional development model. Although no matching funds were required for the grant, each of the five districts chose to provide professional development to additional teachers using district funds, starting their two-year cycle in 2004-2005.