Join The Professional Learning Team for the PBL ³ Workshop at the OPI's Indian Education For All Best Practices Conference on March 17th-18th in Helena!
Join the Professional Learning Team's content specialists on March 17th and 18th at the Montana Indian Education for All Best Practices Conference in Helena as we present our evidence-based professional learning workshop on PBL³!
Blending the pedagogical research behind Problem-Based Learning, Project-Based Learning, and Place-Based Learning (PBL ³ ), the MT OPI content specialists for science, math, and ELA model how to weave together standards-based learning activities grounded in the unique values of educators' communities.
The workshop infuses authentic IEFA content throughout the model lesson at every stage from planning to project. Utilizing tribal research that honors the contributions of American Indian scientists, engineers, authors and poets, land stewards, and tribal agencies, educator participants practice providing choices to connect learners' personal schema, land connections, community values, and background knowledge to problems affecting their specific communities. Join us to collaboratively engage with interactive learning strategies that inspire critical thinking for student-generated solutions!
16th Annual Indian Education for All Best Practices Conference
March 17-18, 2023
Helena, MT - Helena College and Bryant Elementary School Gymnasium
REGISTRATION IS FREE!
Strengthening and Healing through Cultural Knowledge and Education
Indian Education for All is about learning, growing, and breaking down barriers. Educators at the 16th Annual Indian Education for All Best Practices will have opportunities to see, hear, and experience strengthening and healing through cultural knowledge and education in all content areas, including Indigenous languages and strategies for American Indian student achievement. Indian Education, Indigenous language instruction, and improving American Indian student achievement means honoring tribal perspectives and transforming curriculum and classroom practices. This approach strengthens and heals through inclusion, acceptance, and elevation of tribal knowledge and experiences, both historic and contemporary, in Montana.
The MT Board of Public Education Approves Timeline to Open the Montana English Language Arts and Literacy Standards September 2023!
Exciting news! After delays due to the COVID pandemic, Superintendent Arntzen has secured approval from the Montana Board of Public Education to open the ELA standards for review and revision in September of 2023! Our standards are incredible guideposts for our teachers and learners across Montana and we want to make sure that they continue to reflect the best practices and most current research to support student learning! We look forward to working with all interested stakeholders over the coming months and years to develop our standards as an ELA community.
Our goal over the next few months is to build awareness of this exciting opportunity so that we have the best representation from across our wonderful state on each of the task forces that will work with the review and revision process. Please share this information widely with your networks.
Coming Soon: ELA Standards Review Task Force Interest Survey!
For more information, please contact the Montana English Language Arts and Literacy Coordinator Stephanie Swigart at
stephanie.swigart@mt.gov
Assessments
Our Montana Comprehensive Assessment System (MontCAS) is carefully designed to help all stakeholders in Montana provide an equal, fair, and quality education for all Montana students. The
Montana Assessment Roadmap outlines the entire process and suite of what our statewide assessment provides for education in Montana.
Formative Assessment
- Tools for Teachers- Teacher-created lesson plans aligned to our MT standards for math and ELA grades 3-12. Includes Formative Assessment Teacher resources and strategies. Provides next steps after administering Interim Assessments with Connections Playlists. Log-in is required but available to all Montana K-12 educators through your school's School Test Coordinator (STC).
- SmART Smarter Balanced Annotated Response Tool- Better understand how student writing is scored on Smarter Balanced assessments and support writing instruction in your school or classroom. Browse a range of response types, explore interactive scoring rationales and rubrics, and practice scoring on your own or with colleagues. Use student writing samples to support instruction and facilitate important writing and revision conversations in your class.
- Smarter Balanced Content Explorer Site: Learn more about Smarter Balanced's blueprints, claims, targets, standards, and sample items.
Interim Assessments
SBAC Interim Assessments- grades 3-12
Summative
Learn more about ELA Summative Assessments on the Statewide Assessment Page:
Helpful Links
Smarter Balanced Resources: Montana
MontCAS Testing Portal
Spotlight: EdReady Montana English Support
EdReady Montana has been serving schools in Montana now for the last 2 years to help students become critical readers and effective writers, for standardized test prep, and supplementing classroom ELA instruction. In that time, we’ve worked with hundreds of schools and teachers. We are here to help educators who are asking important questions as they emerge from the past year and a half of dealing with interruptions to their teaching and student learning and are starting to ask the following question…
How can I use EdReady English to tackle preparing students for ACT, College English readiness as well as shoring up student’s skills for writing across the curriculum?
The team at EdReady Montana is ready to help you with any of the following solutions:
- this Spring to bridge the gap to next year and help avoid erosion of English skills or prepare students for college-level reading and writing.
- this Summer to address gaps in learning and prepare for their next level of English.
- next Fall to efficiently identify gaps and weaknesses then help teachers supplement instruction by utilizing resources within the program to address them.
- More than one or all of the above?
Not only is the program available online to serve a variety of access needs for students and teachers, but our team of Montana educators is here to help you plan, set-up, adopt and efficiently implement the program. Remember that all professional development can also be used for CEUs. Contact us today and we can work together to help get you going this spring, summer or have you ready to go on day one of next fall!
Visit the EdReady Montana website to read about how others are using the program or contact them support@montanadigitalacademy.org| 406-203-1812 for more information.
Find a Book MetaMetrics Reading Challenge
Find a Book is a free, fun and easy way to identify books based on a child's reading level (Lexile© measure) and interests. Find a Book has over 300,000 titles, making it the perfect tool to keep your child reading all summer long.
How it Works:
- Go to Find a Book & enter your child's lexile measure or grade level.
- Pick books that match the child's interests.
- View & refine the search results to create the perfect book list for your child!
Summer Reading Challenge Flyer • Summer Reading Challenge Spanish Flyer
More Reading Challenges & Resources
Summer Reading Program at Your Public Library - Library Directory
Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge
Sync Audiobooks
Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program
ACT Academy: ACT Academy offers free summer math and English activities for grades 3-12.
For more summer learning opportunities for students, please visit the Summer Learning Opportunities page