A podcast, designed for Montana’s Educators where our mission is to, deliver digestible and relevant professional learning that honors educators’ capacity in an increasingly busy world. Our state’s educators empower minds, elevate futures, and inspire self-discovery and we walk beside them.
Current Episodes available on the Last Best Learning Podcast Channel: 
- Self-Care for Educators, with special guest John Sommers-Flanagan from the Montana Happiness Project
- Bridging the Gap: Self--Care, resiliency, and Educator Retention
- Hometown Mentorship: A Polson Case Study, with special guest Michael Sitter from Polson School District
- Mentor Teachers Browning: The Teacher Residency Program, with special guests Angie, Carol, and Marci from Browning School District
- Every Voice Every Day: Addressing an Expanding Need in Montana, with special guests Serena Wright and Allyson Fraser
- Family and Community Engagement: Building a Sense of Belonging, with special guest Nichole Pieper, Superintendent/Principal Power School District
- Every Voice Every Day: Embracing Diversity Through Inclusive Instruction with special guests, Carrie Owen, Rebecca Turk, and Aria Peters
- Data Matters: Protecting Student Privacy in a Digital Age, with special guests Cathleen Kuchera, West Valley School District and Kiki Moses, Cayuse Prairie School District
- "Learning is Human:" AI in Education, with special guests Jason Neiffer and Connor Mulvaney
- ALL IN! Collaborative Teaching for Accessible Classrooms (This highlights the removal of barriers to learning for all students), with special guests Dr Douglas Fisher and Dr Nancy Frey, authors and co-authors of multiple educational books including, "Your Students My Students Our Students, Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms"
Coming soon:
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Social Emotional Learning: More than Just Chair Yoga, with Principal Rhiannon Beery and Superintendent Darin Hannum of Bainville Public Schools
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Looking Forward: 5th graders report out on what they need from school, with teacher leader Tracy Babcock and her 5th grade class
Professional Development Unit Certificates
The following documents provide guidance for educators to receive professional development units for either an individual or a group professional learning session.
In order to receive professional development units, provide feedback on an episode, or suggest topics for future episodes, please respond to this Qualtrics survey and answer the questions corresponding to the episode in which you listened.
Brought to you by the educators of Montana and the OPI Content Specialists:
Claire Mikeson (ELA), Katrina Engeldrum (math), & Michelle McCarthy (science)
Montana’s constitutional requirement and duly enacted policy require recognition of the distinct and unique cultural heritage of American Indians and a commitment in our educational goals to preserve their cultural heritage. Every Montanan, whether Indian or non-Indian, must learn about the distinct and unique heritage of American Indians in a culturally responsive manner. The OPI Indian Education for All (IEFA) Unit works with districts, tribes, and other entities to ensure all schools have the knowledge, tools and resources necessary to honor the IEFA requirement and integrate it into their teaching materials and methods.
Please go to the Indian Education for All main OPI page for implementation guidance, instructional resources, and professional learning!
Associations Framework
Below is the recorded Professional Learning Presentation for the new
Associations Framework that has been released from the Montana Office of Public Instruction and made available to schools through 1EdTech CASE network for interoperability in student information systems for schools. We encourage you to review the framework and share your impressions and uses with the Content Standards and Instruction Team at OPICSI@mt.gov. We look forward to visiting with you about the possibilities!
This Framework integrates the Skills, Practices, and Anchor Standard of (hereafter referred to as Skills): Career and Technical Education (CTE), Science, Math, ELA, Social Studies, Computer Science, Library Media and Information Literacy, and Technology Integration into the Competencies of: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, Communication, Whole Child Learning (MT Framework), and Inquiry. The
list of links within the presentation are available for you.
New Standards Interactive Integration Activities and Resources
On July 1, 2021, the Montana Administrative Rule will include five new or revised content area standards: Social Studies, Library Media, Tech Integration, Computer Science, and Career and Technical Education (CTE).
As districts begin to plan professional learning opportunities for the five new/revised sets of standards the Office of Public Instruction is here to support! Below are a few Professional Learning resources, presentations, and activities that can be used in your own professional development and/or school/district wide planning for implementation of the new/revised standards.
In addition, each content area page above links to the newly adopted standards as well as resources specific to those standards.
Resources
Teacher Learning Hub Course: New Standards for 2021: Overview and Planning for Implementation Now Available!
April 2021 ASCD New Standards for 2021 Overview and Planning Power Point: This presentation was presented to Montana ASCD summarizing the standards revision process and each of the five new/revised sets of standards.
Like all standards, these new standards are two-fold: What students should "do" (skills, practices, and anchor standards) and what students should know, (grade level standards). Sometimes the skills are embedded in the standards and sometimes they are not, yet each component is equally important. The two activities below, provide educators an opportunity to engage meaningfully with these two pieces to the new standards.
Each activity can be used as a standalone or in succession with the other. We recommend that you start with the Part 1: Skills, Practices, and Anchor Standards: What Students Should Do Jamboard Sorting Activity and then move to the Part 2: Part II: Standards Comparison, What Students Know Google Spreadsheet Activity. These activities can be done as a group or individually, in person, or remotely using Google Jamboard and Google Sheets. This activity takes at least 30 min. We also encourage educators to complete these activities in small groups. For an example, please see the video posted below.
Practices-Skills-Anchors: What Students Do! Jamboard: This Jamboard activity provides an opportunity for educators to work with the skills from each set of new/revised standards. Using the interactive features of the Jamboard, educators will explore ways that the various skills sets overlap and can be used simultaneously. Educators are encouraged to think creatively and non-linearly to develop patterns and structures that show how the various skills, practices, and anchor standards connect to build meaning in the classroom. We encourage educators to consider their local curriculum and already established units of study to organize and group the various content area skills, practices and anchors. An example is provided on the first slide of what this may look like when looking at math, ELA and science standards.
Grade Level Standards Interdisciplinary Connections: What Students Know!: This Google Sheets activity provides educators with a deep dive into the grade level language of the revised/new standards. The spreadsheet includes sheets (tabs) for each grade level or grade level bands (6-8 and 9-12). Working in small groups, educators should choose one grade level tab to work on. Each sheet (tab) is set up with the grade level language of all five of the revised/new content standards side by side. The goal is to find commonalities and connections that provide options for integration in classroom study. The written directions provide instructions on how to search in page (ctrl+f) for key words and connecting ideas. Educators then color code common themes that run throughout and across content areas. The final step is to brainstorm ways that the connections they found might be used in a classroom activity or unit of study.
To import Montana Standards to an Infinite Campus student information system use these resources.
The Board of Public Education (BPE) approved the Career and Technical Education, Computer Science, Library Media and Information Literacy, Social Studies, and Technology Integration Standards at their November 5, 2020 meeting. The implementation date for the new standards is July 1, 2021. See individual content area pages to access documents and other helpful information.
NEW Webinar: New Standards for 2021: Overview and Planning for Implementation (February 8, 2021)
Districts should consider their 5-year curriculum review cycle in order to plan for a staggered approach to aligning to new standards.
To learn about the standards adoption process and how to get involved, take the Montana Content Standards 101 course on the Teacher Learning Hub (1 renewal unit)
Instructional Materials and Best Practice Selection Guidance
RFI Curriculum Review Results for the Montana ARP/ESSER Plan
ARP-ESSER Aligned Evidence-Based Instructional Resources Review
The OPI’s Content Standards and Instruction team has completed reviewing vendor responses to a Request for Information regarding evidence-based curricular materials. Five vendors responded with information on twenty-six programs. Information provided includes Scope 1: Evidence-Based Digital Supplemental Programs and Scope 2: School Year Programs with Targeted Acceleration Using Evidence-Based Instructional Materials and Services to enrich and deepen K-12 students’ conceptual understanding of English language arts, mathematics, and/or science.
Informational recording of RFI Review:
RFI Review Results Table
RFI Review Rubric Look-Fors
Transcript for video
Contact OPICSI@mt.gov if you have any questions
Instructional Materials Guidance Documents
Criteria for Selecting Instructional Materials (word version)
Acceleration Guidance
A Guide to Planning and Implementing Acceleration
ESSA Tiers of Evidence
Evidence-based activities, strategies, or interventions are those that demonstrate a statistically significant effect on improving student outcomes or other relevant outcomes based on the listed criteria. When selecting evidence-based instructional materials, you may want to reference the ESSA tier of evidence for the resources in your selection process.
All tiers require ongoing efforts to examine the effects of such activity, strategy, or intervention.
Evidence Levels:
Tier I: Strong Evidence- Strong evidence from at least one well-designed and well-implemented experimental study.
Tier II: Moderate Evidence- Moderate evidence from at least one well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study.
Tier III: Promising Evidence- Promising evidence from at least one well-designed and well-implemented correlation study with statistical controls for selection bias.
Tier IV: Demonstrates a Rationale- Demonstrates a rationale based on high-quality research findings or positive evaluation that such activity, strategy, or intervention is likely to improve student outcomes or other relevant outcomes.
Evidence-Based Resources:
For a quick reference on evidence-based definitions, districts can use this large-print definition provided by the IES. This tool provided by the Midwest REL provides a crosswalk between ESSA levels of evidence and existing clearinghouses, such as the WWC commonly used by educators.
The K-12 content standards describe what students shall know, understand, and be able to do in these content standards. These K-12 standards define end-of-year expectations and a cumulative progression designed to enable students to meet college and career readiness expectations no later than the end of high school. Montana content standards are guidelines school districts can use to develop their curriculum. They are not the curriculum. In Montana, each school district develops its own curriculum and teachers decide on how they will provide instruction to ensure student learning meeting grade level content standards.
The content standards are found in Administrative Rule of Montana (ARM) and shall be used by school districts to develop local curriculum and assessment in all the content areas including:
Financial Literacy in Montana
The Office of Public Instruction has developed this webpage to support local school districts concerning financial literacy instruction for K-12 schools.