The Montana Mathematics Content standards revision process began in 2022 and The Board of Public Education has adopted the proposed revisions with a planned implementation date of July 2026! To learn more about the revision recommendations made by the Task Force, view a timeline for projected implementation, keep informed of Board of Public Education decisions, and review relevant materials and research, click the banner, or visit our Mathematics Revisions webpage.
Current Montana Mathematics Content Standards
Mathematics Alternate Core Content Connectors
Alternate standards are not formally adopted by the OPI but are aligned to and used in the creation of Montana's Multi-State Alternate Assessment:
Tech Directors: To access a machine-readable version of the official Montana Content Standards for Mathematics, please visit the IMS Global CASE Network site. Create a free login, select Montana Office of Public Instruction, and view or download the standards. The CASE version of the standards can be uploaded to student information systems, curriculum mapping programs, and a variety of other uses. Learn more about the CASE Network CASE Network FAQ
Featured Events:
April 3rd - 4th
Join us for the 5th Montana STEM Summit. Since 2017, the Montana STEM Summit has convened leaders from education, business, afterschool programs, government, industry, and nonprofits, along with engaged citizens, to discuss and highlight how to expand STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) learning across the state.
This year’s summit will showcase innovative STEM programs, alongside panel discussions on key topics including emerging technologies, workforce development, and amplifying youth voices. Interactive work sessions will offer opportunities to connect, collaborate, and share your expertise and ideas.
The summit is a catalyst for collaboration and innovation. Be a part of the conversation and shape the future of STEM learning opportunities in our state.
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April 2nd & 23rd
How can we develop and support numeracy in our students as they progress through the grades? In this training series, participants will look closely at the progressions of big ideas, models and strategies that develop as students become more numerate. Participants will walk away with a better understanding of the progression of models in the K-6 experience as well as tangible strategies they can use in the classroom to ensure student mastery of critical mathematical. These sessions will be from 4-6pm.
Session 2: Numeracy Basics (Part 1): Understanding Base Ten and Addition and Subtraction Progressions
Session 3: Numeracy Basics (Part 3): Understanding Multiplication and Division Progressions
Rhonda Birnie is a math specialist who is passionate about helping people find joy in math. She taught grades K-8 for 24 years and was a math specialist with the Idaho Regional Math Centers for nine years. She currently works with the Boise State University Math Education Collective and Side-by-Side Educational Consulting, consulting with school districts to support teachers as they help students explore and understand math. Rhonda has a particular passion for lesson study and has facilitated more than 80 teams over the years. When Rhonda is not investigating student mathematical thinking, she can be found on her horse, running on the trails, or paddleboarding on a mountain lake.
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April 28th
Have you heard of NCTM’s Notice, the snail, and Wonder, the owl? Did you know that NCTM now offers Notice and Wonder plushies that are perfect for any mathematics classroom? During this Classroom Conversations session, we will share five ways to use the Notice and Wonder plushies in your elementary or middle school classroom. When Notice and Wonder join your classroom, they bring joy and excitement to the learning environment. We will explore how these plushies can enhance daily mathematics routines, promote problem-solving, build students’ confidence in sharing their thinking, and increase their enjoyment of math.
Keep checking back! As soon as new opportunities for professional learning are announced, I will share them here. If you know of any opportunities you would like to see listed here, please email our Math Instructional Coordinator.
Webinars:
The Montana OPI Mathematics Instructional Coordinator has begun developing some self-guided webinars to support professional learning. While these videos do not qualify for professional development units on their own, each comes with a facilitator guide that guides educators regarding how to leverage the video into a professional learning experience.
Digging Deeper Series: Exploring the Montana Mathematics Practice Standards (2026)
In each digging deeper video, we explore the significant changes, define proficiency, describe the traits of rich learning tasks, and articulate what teachers can model to support student success, for each mathematical practice. Each video includes sections for you to stop and reflect, apply the concepts to your own practice, reflective prompts, and a reflective activity designed to support educators in this work. We will be creating a Teacher Learning Hub Course on each of these in the future, so be on the lookout!
- Math Practice #1: Problem Solve and Persevere
- MP #1 - Pre-Recorded Training Video
- MP #1 - Facilitator Guide: This document provides guidance to Montana's educators regarding the use of this video as a professional development opportunity which results in OPI Professional Development Units (PDUs). Additionally, this document contains a participant guide to support educators engaging in learning.
- Math Practice #2: Abstract and Generalize
- MP #2 - Pre-Recorded Training Video
- MP #2 - Facilitator Guide: This document provides guidance to Montana's educators regarding the use of this video as a professional development opportunity which results in OPI Professional Development Units (PDUs). Additionally, this document contains a participant guide to support educators engaging in learning.
- Math Practice #3: Justify and Prove
- MP#3 - Pre-Recorded Training Video
- MP#3 - Facilitator Guide: This document provides guidance to Montana's educators regarding the use of this video as a professional development opportunity which results in OPI Professional Development Units (PDUs). Additionally, this document contains a participant guide to support educators engaging in learning.
- Math Practice #4: Model with Mathematics
- MP#4 - Pre-Recorded Training Video
- MP#4 - Facilitator Guide - This document provides guidance to Montana's educators regarding the use of this video as a professional development opportunity which results in OPI Professional Development Units (PDUs). Additionally, this document contains a participant guide
- Math Practice #5: Represent
- Math Practice #6: Collaborate Mathematically
- Math Practice #7: Culturally Connect
New Episodes Posted Monthly!
Humanizing Math: Grounding Mathematics in the Stories of the People Who Saw Its Beauty
Facilitator Guide: This document provides guidance to Montana's educators regarding the use of this video as a professional development opportunity which results in OPI Professional Development Units (PDUs). Additionally, this document contains all the resources and documents mentioned in the video - from posters to decorate your classroom, to lesson plans to inform instruction, these free documents were curated and created to support Montana's teachers.
Coming Soon!
Digging Deeper Series: Exploring (proposed) Montana Mathematical Practice Standard #3: Model with Mathematics
Teacher Learning Hub:
Looking for free, online professional learning? Take a look at the Teacher Learning Hub for a variety of excellent mathematics courses.
How Can Your School Use the Courses?
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Choose a course to take at your first math department or grade-level meeting. Use the course to center your discussion for the year!
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Align your PIR day for time to discuss the course in person and for teachers to talk about the implementation of new strategies learned during the course.
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Have teachers go through the list of courses during your first week of school and select which course is most relevant to them. Use the course as a topic of conversation for one-on-one teacher-principal meetings.
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Schools may use funds to provide stipends for teachers who complete the course outside of the contract day. This is a district-level decision. (Note: teachers can not receive both a stipend and renewal units upon completion).
Self-Paced Highlights!
This course is designed to help teachers of mathematics find authentic connections between Indigenous cultures and mathematical practices. It also provides a planning tool that can be used to strategically align Indian Education for All and curriculum planning.
⇒ Multiplication Strategies: Multi-Digit Numbers
This course will provide educators with strategies for teaching multi-digit multiplication based on place value and properties. Teaching multiplication in a way that connects with the learning progressions and Montana content standards is essential. Participants will have multiple opportunities to learn, practice, and analyze the strategies for efficiency.
⇒ But What About Fact Fluency?
"My kids just don't know their math facts!" If you have said this before and want to learn how to best help students improve fact fluency, this course will be valuable to you!
⇒ Addition & Subtraction Strategies
Learn the various strategies for addition and subtraction based on place value, properties, and the inverse relationship.
⇒ Multiplication Strategies
"My kids just don't know their multiplication facts!" Have you ever found yourself saying that statement? If so, this course is for you. The Montana Content Standards emphasize solving multiplication problems by using strategies based on place value and properties. This course will focus on how to build multiplication fact fluency with your students by building a conceptual understanding first to learn foundational and derived facts.
Math Planning Resources
Selecting Instructional Materials that Incorporate Acceleration
Selecting Evidenced-Based Math Curriculum
The 2021 Summer Learning & Enrichment: State Guidance for District and School Leaders
- This Guide offers support as schools plan for summer 2021 learning opportunities to meet the most pressing needs of students and teachers in this uniquely challenging school year. The resources and considerations in this document are based on leading research and evidence-based, best practices for summer learning and closing learning gaps. It also includes guidance on how to use ESSER funding to integrate school and community resources to create innovative summer learning programs.
One Page Summary of the 2021 Summer Learning & Enrichment document.
Louisiana's Pre-K-High School Tutoring Strategy
- No longer are the days of remediation, catch-up, and cramming skills in isolation. Such strategies have proven ineffective and often detrimental to student learning. Accelerate is an equal-access, just-in-time tutoring model that is focused on identifying, celebrating, and building upon the assets students bring to the learning experience. An acceleration approach addresses unfinished learning in an equitable way. Acceleration means connecting unfinished learning in the context of new learning, integrating new information and the needed prior knowledge.
TNTP Learning Acceleration Guide
- The New Teacher Project’s (TNTP) Learning Acceleration Guide: Planning for Acceleration in the 2021-2022 School Year guides school leadership teams through the process of creating a student learning acceleration plan while helping teams tackle barriers that may affect the outcome of the plan.
EdReady Montana
- EdReady is a free Montana-based program through MTDA, ready to help schools with support for math programming in grades 5 to 12 identifying and addressing gaps and gains for fall, ACT Skill Prep, and providing supplemental class material for online/blended or face to face instruction.
Student Achievement Partners - Priority Math Standards
- This document provides guidance for the field about the content priorities by leveraging the structure and emphases of college- and career-ready mathematics standards.
Charles A Dana Center - Front mapping tool
- This google folder holds lost learning mapping outlines for grades 4- Algebra I math courses. This tool can be used to connect standards or concepts that may not have been taught to future grade level standards.
Coherence Mapping tool- grades K- Algebra II
- This spreadsheet is designed to help math teachers and leaders better understand the potential consequences of leaving gaps in their mathematics curriculum. It is a model of how many lessons and hours are needed to teach sequences of standards as defined by the Coherence Map. Created by Raymond Johnson, Mathematics Specialist, Colorado Department of Education.
Cognitively Demanding (Rich) Math Tasks
- This free digital resources contain Cognitively Demanding (Rich) Math Tasks to assist with engaging students in learning mathematics with technology online or face-to-face. This document was created by Hawaii Department of Education.
New Graduation Requirements:
The graduation requirements in Montana have been expanded to include financial literacy. (ARM 10.55.906)
It states that "In order for students to graduate, they must meet the content and performance standards," including "1/2 unit of economics or financial literacy within the 2 units of social studies, the 2 units of mathematics, or the 1 unit of career and technical education"
This requirement goes into effect for the class of 2026 graduates.
Guidance:
For guidance on these new expectations, and for information regarding how schools can support students in meeting these requirements, please visit the Career and Technical Education Webpage.
Financial Literacy in the Math Standards:
There are many concepts related to financial literacy that exist within the Math Content Standards. OPI has prepared a guide that identifies these standards.
Please note that the Montana Math Content Standards are under revision and are slated to enter implementation in the Summer of 2025. Once these new standards are finalized and approved by the Board of Public Education, guidance will be provided that similarly identifies concepts related to Financial Literacy within the 2025 Math Standards.