Want to close the achievement gap? Then do NOT give that poor kid a home computer.

A new study by Duke University researchers finds the math and reading test scores of students from low-income families tend to suffer (modestly but significantly, the researchers say) after home computers and Internet access arrive in their homes. The study, published online by the National Bureau for Economic Research, looked at data for more than 150,000 North Carolina students, in grades five through eight, between 2000 and 2005.

The problem: Parental monitoring of computer use, or lack thereof.

Some states, like Maine and Michigan, are pushing efforts to get more computers into kids' homes. All we can recall in Florida are localized efforts like this one here.

Read more about the study here and here. Read it for yourself here (it'll cost you $5).