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.
National Poetry Month
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.
MFPE Proposals
Proposals for the MFPE Educators Conference are due April 30. This year's conference will take place in Great Falls, October 15-16. For more information and to submit a proposal, see the
MFPE conference website.
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.
MATELA Journal Submissions
The Montana Association of Teachers of English Language Arts is accepting submissions to The Montana English Journal. Submissions are due
May 1. For more information, and to submit a paper, see the
MATELA website.
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 families to strengthen their children’s reading skills at home through read alouds: 10 Strategies for Families to Strengthen Read-Alouds at Home.