Who we are, what we do

Learn more about eMINTS — its history and development. MINTs project   eMINTS Origins Professional development Support   Highlights 2006-2007 2005-2006 2004-2005 2003-2004 2002-2003 2001-2002 2000-2001 1999-2000

eMINTS history

MINTs project

During the school years of 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 the Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet) obtained funding from the Southwest Bell Foundation to initiate the Multimedia Interactive Networked Technologies (MINTs) project. MINTs delivered a high-speed Internet connection to the classroom and placed technology on the teacher’s and students’ desks while trying to determine whether eliminating technology barriers traditionally experienced by schools could change teaching styles and strategies and improve student performance. Six school districts in St. Louis County were involved in the MINTs project: Affton, Bayless, Jennings, Normandy, Riverview Gardens and University City.

Test scores in the MINTs classrooms improved, but even more important, attitudes and styles of teaching and learning changed also. The technology encouraged a new way of educating students – a way that engages them in their education by making resources available in a learning environment that fosters cooperation, collaboration, problem solving and higher order thinking skills. The connections to parents were also strengthened as they showed more interest in the positive stories their children were bringing home.

The MINTs Project earned a 1999 Smithsonian ComputerWorld award for Education and Academia.

eMINTS

The preliminary results of MINTs were so successful it prompted then Missouri Commissioner of Education Robert Bartman to launch a statewide initiative to change the way Missouri educates its K-12 students. The initiative, known as the enhancing Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies (eMINTS) project was launched in 1999.

eMINTS has critical elements not typically found in innovation programs:

Professional development and support for teachers

Each teacher is part of a cluster of teachers who have a Cluster Instructional Specialist (CIS) working with them. The CIS is available for consultation, support, facilitation and assistance in designing inquiry-based instructional experiences enhanced by technology. Technology sits unused or underused in schools where there are no educators trained to use the technology and integrate it into their curriculum and instruction. The teachers in this program receive extensive professional development experiences throughout the project years as they learn to infuse the technologies to support inquiry-based learning.

Support

eMINTS classrooms have Internet connections to enhance students' and educators' learning experiences. The rooms have teacher workstations, interactive whiteboards, a computer for every two students, related peripherals and minimal software. There is ample technical support as well as the instructional support to ensure efficient operation of the classroom technologies and integration of the technologies into the curriculum.

Highlights

2006-2007

Throughout the 2006-2007 school year, eMINTS implementations continued to expand high quality strategies for teaching and learning to more than 25,000 students in nine states. eMINTS program evaluation and research results were presented at numerous conferences, seminars and meetings in the US and in England. Visitors from across the US and Australia toured eMINTS classrooms and observed the changes in students engagement and motivation brought by eMINTS professional development for teachers.

Larger scale school- or district-wide implementations continued in Missouri and other states. Custom professional development options using long-term e-conferencing support were provided to Oklahoma and Texas districts. eMINTS programs, such as eMINTS4All, introduced in 2005-2006 were refined and polished based on formative evaluation data collected in 2005-2006.

The eMINTS staff grew with the addition of three more instructional specialists and a Program Coordinator for Evaluation and Research. The eMINTS organization was also reconfigured to better reflect its growing mission to support educators at all levels with the professional development experiences needed to prepare all learners to become intrepid explorers, active team members, independent thinkers, problem solvers, effective communicators and creators of knowledge.

e-Learning for Educators moved into its second year of operation offering more online courses for teachers. Six teams of Missouri educators completed six Missouri-specific online professional development courses that were offered in summer 2006-and fall 2007.

eMINTS participated in the Missouri Mathematics, Engineering. Technology and Science (METS) Coalition along with other education, business and governmental representatives. In May 2007, Governor Blunt signed the state budget that included $2.9 million in funding for 100 eMINTS/METS classrooms. The classrooms will serve as model classrooms across Missouri where eMINTS and research-based mathematics and/or science curriculum have been implemented together to demonstrate best practices in METS education. eMINTS and DESE will collect student and teacher data for proof-of-concept evaluation to establish the basis for a major state-wide implementation to create new eMINTS/METS classrooms in the future.

2005-2006

The 2005-2006 school year marked the beginning of the implementation of school-wide eMINTS implementations. Due to changes in the administration of the Title II.D. (Enhancing Education Through Technology) program, DESE and eMINTS revised the focus of the eMINTS grant awards from two or three classrooms per district to larger, more systemic school or district implementations.

eMINTS also announced the designation of the Education Development Center as the program’s external evaluation consultant beginning March 1, 2006. EDC consultants developed a new program evaluation design for the eMINTS National Center. The three components of the design (link: http://www.emints.org/evaluation/components.shtml) will eventually be used to measure the authenticity and fidelity of eMINTS program implementations.

The influence of eMINTS National Center's philosophy of high-quality teaching powered by technology continues to expand. In 2005-2006 the demographics included

• 232 Missouri districts
• 10 Utah districts
• 56 Maine districts
• 2 Nevada districts
• 1 Illinois district
• 1 Arkansas district
• 1,250 classrooms – 22,500 students
• Custom professional development provided in Oklahoma, Ohio and Texas

eMINTS continued to expand its professional development program offerings while refining its core philosophies. In 2005, eMINTS4All (a supplemental program) as well as eMINTS4Administrators were added to the multiple professional development programs that supported implementation of the eMINTS instructional model.

In late fall 2005, a new project, e-Learning for Educators: Missouri, was funded in cooperation with DESE. eLearning provides online professional development to educators across Missouri and the US. The first eLearning courses were offered in summer 2006.

2004-2005

In the 2004-2005 school year eMINTS programs reached thousands of students in Missouri and Utah. In Missouri classrooms in 229 districts (of 524) joined the eMINTS experience with 5 districts (out of 40) in Utah. eMINTS instructional practices influenced 20,000 students in 1,000 classrooms in grades 3-8. And, for the first time, eMINTS was growing into middle and high school settings. Additional states sought information about implementing eMINTS in their locales. Custom professional development was provided to teachers in Minnesota through TIES.

eMINTS completed the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Product Alignment Review Process with the eMINTS Comprehensive Professional Development Program. In February 2005, the ISTE Seal of Alignment was awarded to the program. the ISTE Seal of Alignment demonstrating full alignment with all of ISTE's National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers ( NETS•T™).

eMINTS is the first professional development program in the world to achieve this degree of full alignment. ISTE issued press release announcing this alignment on April 15, 2005,

2003-2004

On Feb. 24, 2004, the eMINTS program moved to a new level when the eMINTS National Center was approved by the General Officers of the University of Missouri System.

The eMINTS National Center became a collaborative education program providing professional development to schools and districts across Missouri and the US. The eMINTS National Center is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the Missouri Department of Higher Education (http://www.dhe.mo.gov/) and is an independent unit within the University of Missouri System Office of Academic Affairs.

The eMINTS National Center serves as a resource base for schools and districts in Missouri and nationally that wish to collaborate with eMINTS staff and with one another to replicate the eMINTS instructional model (high quality teaching powered by technology) within their educational systems.

Thirty-one new districts were added to the eMINTS participant list along with one charter school and the Greenwood School (independent) on the campus of Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State University). eMINTS demographics for 2003-2004 included the following totals:

• 203 Missouri districts
• plus Greenwood School on SMSU campus
• and St. Louis Charter School
• 5 Utah districts
• 800 classrooms – 15,500 students
• Grades 3 - 8
• 35% of eMINTS classrooms district-funde

2002-2003

Thirty-nine new districts across Missouri began their eMINTS implementations with two to three new classrooms while thirty-eight districts continued their second year of eMINTS professional development. The twenty-five established districts that were provided with resources to add two additional eMINTS classrooms also continued into Year 2 of the eMINTS professional development program.

In an effort to begin scaling eMINTS to more schools and districts in Missouri, the Professional Development for Educational Technology Specialists (PD4ETS) program was introduced. Ten participants formed the first cohort group to begin the two-year program. Districts that expect to maintain or expand the eMINTS program were able to obtain eMINTS certification for one or more of their district employees through the PD4ETS program. The program was conceived as a way to meet the challenge of providing eMINTS professional development for teachers who replace eMINTS teachers that retire or leave the district and for teachers in additional district-funded eMINTS classrooms.

In spring 2003, the first out-of-state replication of eMINTS was begun in Utah. Educational specialists from five Utah districts traveled to Missouri and spent one week learning how to implement eMINTS in their districts. In fall 2003, more than 70 new eMINTS classrooms were opened in Salt Lake City, Granite City, Tintic, Duschene and Ogden.

2001-2002

The third generation of eMINTS teachers represents 63 school districts spread across Missouri. Thirty-eight new districts launched eMINTS classrooms while 25 current districts added two more eMINTS classrooms. The districts in the expansion portion of the program worked on leadership issues and mentoring teachers to improve technology integration. Student success, teacher enthusiasm and local support led 36 of the eMINTS districts in the state to add 64 eMINTS classrooms equipped by the district or sponsoring organizations to the roster. As the 2001-2002 school year began, 126 new eMINTS teachers (FY02) joined the program.

Supplying Internet connectivity, learning technologies and technical support to Missouri classrooms remains important to the success and growth of eMINTS. Support for teachers who change their teaching styles to empower students' success through inquiry-based learning continues to be the focus of professional development for teachers in all eMINTS classrooms. But most important, evaluation of eMINTS classes continues to reveal positive trends. See reports from the OSEDA evaluation team.

2000-2001

During the 2000-2001 school year eMINTS added teachers from 38 new school districts to the group of 88 teachers who started in 1999. The new teachers (FY01) joined the existing clusters and one additional cluster was created for a total of ten clusters. eMINTS staff grew to include 13 CIS (some clusters had two CIS because of their size), three AIS (Area Instructional Specialists) and a full-time Instructional Program Leader.

FY01 teachers completed 100 hours and four release days of professional development while FY00 teachers completed a second year of training that included 75 hours and two release days. Dr. Bernie Dodge, San Diego State University, spent a day with the FY00 eMINTS teachers as they learned about WebQuests.

1999-2000

eMINTS involved 88 teachers in 44 school districts throughout Missouri. The schools were organized into nine regional clusters representing all areas of the state.

Equipment was delivered throughout the 1999-2000 school year and eMINTS teachers received 100 hours and four release days of professional development. Evaluation reports that tell the experiences of this group of eMINTS teachers (FY00) can be found at eMINTS evaluation.

MINTs project

The origins.

Reviewed August 7, 2007.