• Frequently Asked Questions about the Montana Common Core Standards
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Smarter Balanced Assessment

• ExxonMobil and Billings Chamber Support STEM, Common Core, Monica Mainland, manager of ExxonMobil Billings Refinery, and John Brewer president and CEO of the Billings Chamber of Commerce.
• Montana’s Common Core will upgrade K-12 learning, 21 Montana Teachers of the Year
• Montana Common Core Standards benefit students, Anna Baldwin, 2014 Montana Teacher of the Year
• What the Common Core math standards mean for Montana students, Anne Keith, 2010 Montana Teacher of the Year, 2008 Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science
• Don’t be Afraid of the Common Core Standards, Billings Gazette editorial

Montana Common Core Standards (MCCS) ...

MCCS for English Language Arts & literacy in History/social studies, science & technical subjects

Grade Specific

Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5

Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grades 9-10
Grades 11-12

Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, &
Technical Subjects
Grades 6-12

MCCS Standards by Strand - All Grades

MCCS Strands K-12

College and Career Readiness: Anchor Standards

Reading Foundational Standards K-5

Reading Literature Standards K-12

Reading Informational Standards K-12

Writing Standards

Speaking Listening Standards K-12

Language Standards

Literacy History/Social Studies, Science & Technology 6-12

Appendices...

These appendices are from the work that developed the Common Core State Standards. Teachers may find these documents useful for the implementation of literacy across content areas. See Appendices A and B for support with text complexity. The appendices were not adopted by the Montana Board of Public Education and so are not required to be used in any manner. The Office of Public Instruction has no position relative to any endorsement of these documents.

• Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards Glossary of Key Terms: Appendix A shares research supporting key elements of the standards including text complexity.
  • New Research on Text Complexity
    
• Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks: Appendix B shares text exemplars and sample performance tasks.
  
• Appendix C: Samples of Student Writing: Appendix C shares samples of student writing.

Montana Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice & Content...

Grade-Level K-12

Grade-Band K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Grade Specific:

Grade Level Standards by Domain and Cluster

• Kindergarten
• Grade 1
• Grade 2
• Grade 3

• Grade 4
• Grade 5
• Grade 6

• Grade 7
• Grade 8
• Grades 9-12

Montana Common Core Standards: toward greater focus and coherence. William Schmidt and Richard Houang (2002) have said that content standards and curricula are coherent if they are: articulated over time as a sequence of topics and performances that are logical and reflect, where appropriate, the sequential or hierarchical nature of the disciplinary content from which the subject matter derives. That is, what and how students are taught should reflect not only the topics that fall within a certain academic discipline, but also the key ideas that determine how knowledge is organized and generated within that discipline. This implies that “to be coherent,” a set of content standards must evolve from particulars (e.g., the meaning and operations of whole numbers, including simple math facts and routine computational procedures associated with whole numbers and fractions) to deeper structures inherent in the discipline. These deeper structures then serve as a means for connecting the particulars (such as an understanding of the rational number system and its properties).

These Standards endeavor to follow such a design, not only by stressing conceptual understanding of key ideas, but also by continually returning to organizing principles such as place value or the laws of arithmetic to structure those ideas.

In addition, the “sequence of topics and performances” that is outlined in a body of mathematics standards must also respect what is known about how students learn. As Confrey (2007) points out, developing “sequenced obstacles and challenges for students…absent the insights about meaning that derive from careful study of learning, would be unfortunate and unwise.” In recognition of this, the development of these Standards began with research-based learning progressions detailing what is known today about how students' mathematical knowledge, skill, and understanding develop over time. (MCCS Grade Level K-12 page 2-3)

Mathematical Practices...

Montana Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice

Mathematical Practices Professional Development

Montana Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice At-A-Glance

MCCS Math Practice Grouping Chart

Math Practices Grade Band Descriptions

Grade 6 Math Practices Posters

The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe varieties of expertise that mathematics educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students. These practices rest on important “processes and proficiencies” with long-standing importance in mathematics education. The first of these are the NCTM process standards of problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, representation, and connections. The second are the strands of mathematical proficiency specified in the National Research Council's report Adding It Up: adaptive reasoning, strategic competence, conceptual understanding (comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations and relations), procedural fluency (skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately), and productive disposition (habitual inclination to see mathematics as sensible, useful, and worthwhile, coupled with a belief in diligence and one's own efficacy). (MCCS Grade Level K-12 page 5)

H.S. Pathways...

Model High School Course Pathways based on the Common State Standards

Appendix A: Designing High School Mathematics Courses Based on the Common Core State Standards

Arranging the High School Standards

1. This document does not include the Montana Common Core Standards with Indian Education for All standards.
2. The pathways and courses are models, not mandates. They illustrate possible approaches to organizing the content of the CCSS into coherent and rigorous courses that lead to college and career readiness
3. All college and career ready standards (those without a +) are found in each pathway. A few (+) standards are included to increase coherence but are not necessarily expected to be addressed on high stakes assessments.
4. The course descriptions delineate the mathematics standards to be covered in a course; they are not prescriptions for curriculum or pedagogy. Additional work will be needed to create coherent instructional programs that help students achieve these standards.
5. Units within each course are intended to suggest a possible grouping of the standards into coherent blocks; in this way, units may also be considered “critical areas” or “big ideas”, and these terms are used interchangeably throughout the document. The ordering of the clusters within a unit follows the order of the standards document in most cases, not the order in which they might be taught. Attention to ordering content within a unit will be needed as instructional programs are developed.
6. While courses are given names for organizational purposes, districts are encouraged to carefully consider the content in each course and use names that they feel are most appropriate. Similarly, unit titles may be adjusted by states and districts.

Resources...

The Montana Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice and Content are not intended to be new names for old ways of doing business. They are a call to take the next step. It is time for everyone to collaborate and build collective capacity. These resources support collaboration for the transition and implementation of these standards.