ELA Content Standards and Resources

Return to the K-12 Content Standards home page.

Access the ELA Content Standards on Satchel.

 

New 2027 ELA Content Standards!

Montana’s new English Language Arts and Literacy Content Standards have been formally adopted by the Montana Board of Public Education! The implementation date is July 2027. This date was selected to allow school districts adequate time to prepare between the implementation of new math and ELA standards. More information about the standards revision process can be found on the OPI’s ELA Standards Revisions Webpage.

Montana's 2027 ELA Standards:

Montana's ELA Standards: Monthly Implementation Webinars beginning in August!

Join OPI’s free, statewide webinar series designed to support educators in implementing the 2027 Montana English Language Arts and Literacy Content Standards. Sessions will include

  • practical guidance
  • job-embedded strategies and resources
  • tips for alignment with your curriculum
  • a community of professionals engaging in shared learning
See the PDF version of the flier here, which includes a link to the webinar calendar and topics and the registration form.

MentorMT Applications

The MentorMT program supports educators and works to address Montana’s teacher shortage by partnering experienced teachers with new or underprepared rural teachers. Mentor applications open April 1 and mentee applications open May 1.

Summer AI Literacy Course

AI Literacy for K-12 Educators, a fully asynchronous, graduate-level course designed to build practical and responsible AI knowledge for today's classrooms, is being offered through MSU this summer. 

Course Details:

  • Course: ED 566 - AI Literacy for K-12 Educators (3 graduate credits)
  • Format: Fully asynchronous, self-paced with recommended pacing
  • Dates: May 18 - Aug 9, 2026
  • Institution: Hosted by the Alaska State Development Network, credits through the University of Alaska Anchorage, 500-level graduate course, pass/no pass
  • Tuition: $125 (non-refundable)
  • Enrollment Cap: 40 participants
  • Open to: Educators in any state

Visit the registration page [bit.ly] for more details on the course or to sign up.

New Humanities Montana Programs

Montana has a new Poet Laureate, Allen Morris Jones. You can reach out to Allen and book his adult program and/or his youth program via his page on the Humanities Montana website. This program is free to libraries, school and other community organizations. 
 
Humanities Montana is also launching a mini speaker program of 10 speakers called Our Montana Voices, which will run April 1- Sept 31, 2026, funded by the Montana 250 Commission. Check out the different speakers and learn about the booking process on their webpage. Humanities Montana recommends that booking sites select one presentation from the list so that the programs can be equitably spread across all 56 counties.

Primary Source Lessons Available on ReadWriteThink

NCTE has collaborated with the Library of Congress’s Teaching with Primary Sources program, resulting in the addition of 150 new lesson plans on ReadWriteThink.org. The searchable database includes strategies for teaching using items from the Library of Congress’s digitized primary source collection. The strategies were created by a cohort of teachers and leaders in English language arts education. They articulate specific literacy merit for curriculum or classroom use, along with suggested themes, units, and state standards. Content is searchable through tags such as picturebook and argument.

International Literacy Association Blog

Check out the latest post from the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Now blog, which provides strategies for overcoming common hurdles to incorporate more student voice: A Teacher's Experience Overcoming Systemic Hurdles.

 

The English Language Arts and Literacy Standards 

New 2027 ELA Content Standards

Montana’s new English Language Arts and Literacy Content Standards have been formally adopted by the Montana Board of Public Education! The implementation date is July 2027. This date was selected to allow school districts adequate time to prepare between the implementation of new math and ELA standards. Access the new standards below! 

More information about the standards revision process can be found on the OPI’s ELA Standards Revisions Webpage.

ELA Standards Documents

2027 Standards for Implementation

Current 2011 Standards Documents

ELA Standards Monthly Webinar Series Coming 26/27

Join OPI’s free, statewide webinar series designed to support educators in implementing the 2027 Montana English Language Arts and Literacy Content Standards. 1 PDU will be available per session. Sessions will include

  • practical guidance
  • job-embedded strategies and resources
  • tips for alignment with your curriculum
  • a community of professionals engaging in shared learning

See the PDF version of the flier here, which includes a link to the webinar calendar and topics and the registration form.

Grade Level Standards Documents

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

Seventh Grade

Eighth Grade

Ninth-Tenth Grades

Eleventh-Twelfth Grades

Family Roadmaps: Grade-to-Grade Crosswalks for the MT English Language Arts Content Standards

Involve stakeholders in student learning by providing parents and families with these grade-level guides to the content standards.  Each grade level document provides a clear and easy-to-understand overview of what their child will learn and do in their grade.  It also includes a side-by-side comparison of vertical alignment with the grade below and grade above to help parents and students understand the subtle differences in ELA skill progression as outlined in the standards. Each grade-level document concludes with a section on specific supports families can and should do to help their students meet grade-level ELA goals. 

Kindergarten

Grade One

Grade Two

Grade Three

Grade Four

Grade Five

Grade Six

Grade Seven

Grade Eight

High School

April's Featured Resource

From The National Writing Project: Want to connect Earth Day, art, and poetry? Check out the lesson plan "Oscar Howe: Art, Culture and Indigenous Connection to the Land" [nwp.us8.list-manage.com]  from our resource hub, Teach Write Now. This lesson helps students (8th grade and up) learn about how the removal of Indigenous people from their land became a federal policy with the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, and how they have survived and thrive as their own culture today. One way the culture and history has been kept alive has been through stories and art. Oscar Howe was an artist who greatly contributed to recording this painful past while refusing to be limited to traditional art.

Instructional Resources

Selecting ELA Materials

College and Career Readiness

Additional Resources

  • Montana PBS' Media Mavericks - Media Mavericks is a program by Montana PBS Education program that invites middle and high school students create standards-aligned media-making projects.

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. Learn more about ELA Summative Assessments on the Statewide Assessment Page:

Helpful Links

 

Professional Learning

Featured Opportunities

Montana's ELA Standards: Monthly Implementation Webinars beginning in August!

Join OPI’s free, statewide webinar series designed to support educators in implementing the 2027 Montana English Language Arts and Literacy Content Standards. Sessions will include

  • practical guidance
  • job-embedded strategies and resources
  • tips for alignment with your curriculum
  • a community of professionals engaging in shared learning

See the PDF version of the flier here, which includes a link to the webinar calendar and topics and the registration form.

Summer AI Literacy Course

AI Literacy for K-12 Educators, a fully asynchronous, graduate-level course designed to build practical and responsible AI knowledge for today's classrooms, is being offered through MSU this summer. 

Course Details:

  • Course: ED 566 - AI Literacy for K-12 Educators (3 graduate credits)
  • Format: Fully asynchronous, self-paced with recommended pacing
  • Dates: May 18 - Aug 9, 2026
  • Institution: Hosted by the Alaska State Development Network, credits through the University of Alaska Anchorage, 500-level graduate course, pass/no pass
  • Tuition: $125 (non-refundable)
  • Enrollment Cap: 40 participants
  • Open to: Educators in any state

Visit the registration page [bit.ly] for more details on the course or to sign up.

Facing History Summer PD Offerings

Facing History and Ourselves Professional Development Offerings for the summer include free virtual synchronous and asynchronous courses for ELA educators. Topics include Holocaust literature, coming of age, exploring text selection, and more.

The Big Sky Literacy Summit

Registration is open for The Big Sky Literacy Summit, August 27-30, 2026, at the Yellowstone Conference Center in Big Sky, Montana. Early bird registration is open until April 15. Learn more and register on the conference website. 

OPI Summer Institute

OPI's 2026 Summer Institute will take place June 15-18th at MSU in Bozeman. For more information, including registration and a list of keynote speakers, see the Summer Institute webpage.

2026 NCTE Annual Convention

Registration is open for the 2026 NCTE Annual Convention, to be held in Philadelphia, PA November 19-22. Learn more and register on the convention website. 

2026 Joint Conference for Elementary Literacy and Mathematics 

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) are pleased to announce the third year of the joint conference focused on K–5/elementary literacy and mathematics. The conference will take place August 3-5 in Charlotte, NC. Learn more and register on the conference website.

Professional Organizations

Learning Communities

The one-stop shop for professional learning opportunities. Take a look at our calendar of upcoming events!

The Teacher Learning Hub

The Teacher Learning Hub has transitioned from Moodle to Canvas! Courses are currently being added and updated, so check back regularly.

Writing

Reading

  • Supporting Readers with Informational Text (5 PDUs)

  • Reading Between the Lines (3 PDUs)

Book Study

English Language Learning

Teaching Indian Education for All fulfills our constitutional commitment to honoring the historical and contemporary contributions and caretaking of our state and land by Montana Tribal Nations. We are committed to teaching IEFA in ELA to help our students understand perspective, identify bias in text, hold discussions, research authentically and with a broad net, and develop evidence-based written and spoken opinions and arguments surrounding contemporary issues affecting Indigenous communities today. Through teaching IEFA responsibly and responsively, we build relationships across our state for the benefit of all. 

IEFA Resources

Check out OPI's IEFA Indian Education Classroom Resources website, where you can browse lessons, unit plans, and resources by subject area and grade level, and also find resources specific to Montana tribal nations.

Looking for a class novel? Request to borrow free Class Set Available Books. For each text, IEFA also provides a full unit plan!

Additional K-12 Resources

You can also find many of these resources, and more, on the IEFA webpage

American Indians in Children's Literature

American Indians 101 - Frequently Asked Questions
Boarding Schools - Map of Schools in Montana
Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians
Essential Understandings Key Concepts
Evaluating American Indian Materials and Resources for the Classroom
Everyday Native Project
The Framework: A Practical Guide for Montana Teachers and Administrators Implementing IEFA
Humanities Montana: Native American Lit Study Guides
Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West
Lessons of our Land - Indian Land Tenure Foundation Website
Living Nations, Living Words-from the Library of Congress
Montana Historical Society - Educational Outreach Footlockers Web site
Montana: Stories of the Land website
Native Memory Project
National Museum of the American Indian: Native Knowledge 360°
Resilience: Stories of Twenty Indian Women

Reservation Tribal History Timelines:

AllBlackfeetCrowFlatheadFort BelknapFort PeckNorthern CheyenneRocky Boy