Report Card Definitions

The Accountability System uses multiple measures of school success, including academic outcomes, student progress, and school quality, while emphasizing that all students deserve a high-quality and well-rounded education that will prepare them for success. Montana’s Consolidated State Plan under Every Student Succeeds Act.

The Every Student Succeeds Act amends Section 8302 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, ESSA replaced No Child Left Behind and continues the nation's national educational law. 

In practice, ESSA requires that the OPI submit a state plan for students’ education in Montana. The Montana state plan identifies the accountability system that will be used to make sure all Montana's students are served and being prepared for the future. ESSA does outline areas each state must focus on but supports a more holistic approach to student and school success that allows the state to integrate its own indicators into its accountability system. 

Montana’s comprehensive accountability system that assigns weighted scores to schools based on performance indicators for the grades of students they serve. There must be 10 or more students in each indicator to be scored.  

Federally Required Indicators:

• Academic Achievement-proficiency on statewide mathematics and ELA assessments
• Academic Growth 
• English Learner Progress 
• Four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate

Montana Flexibility Indicators:

• Satisfactory Attendance 
• College and/or Career Ready
• STEM Indicator: Proficiency on statewide science assessment 
• School Survey of program quality indicators for improving school climate, reducing behavior issues, and increasing engagement (Under Development) 

On March 30, 2020, the OPI received the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) approval for the 2019-2020 school year universal waivers for provisions under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), reauthorized as the Every Students Succeed Act (ESSA). In accordance with Section 8401 of ESEA-ESSA, the Department waived the federal statutory and regulatory requirements for state testing, accountability, and reporting for the 2019-2020 school year. On March 26, 2021, the OPI secured the accountability and reporting waivers offered by the Department.

Schools are identified for Additional Targeted Support and Improvement each year if the school has any student subgroup performing in the lowest 5% of all Montana schools. For more information on ATSI please visit the OPI Webpage. 

Schools identified for CSI meet one or more of the following criteria: 

• Lowest performing 5% of all Title I schools in the state;
• High school graduation rate less than 67%;
• Consistently underperforming student groups.

Every three years, the OPI will identify schools for CSI beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. These schools will develop a Continuous School Improvement Plan and work in partnership with the OPI to implement strategies to overcome challenges in the areas of school climate, school engagement, leadership, professional development and curriculum and standards. For more information please visit the CSI OPI Webpage. 

Schools are identified as Universal if they do not perform in the bottom five percent of Title I schools, have a graduation rate above 67 percent.  The criteria are measured school-wide and for student subgroups. 

This refers to a district that has a majority of schools identified for CSI. Because of this designation, support is delivered through a systemic district level approach.  

An administrator provides leadership across all areas necessary to run a school. In the Report Cards, administrator refers to two specific positions within the school and/or district: superintendents and principals.

In accordance with the Administrative Rule of Montana 10.57.107, if a school district that has exhausted all possibilities and remains unable to hire a licensed educator may request to utilize the emergency authorization process. If granted, the Emergency Authorization of Employment allows the district to employ a non-licensed person to teach in that subject area. The district must provide evidence of their due diligence to fill the position with a licensed educator, as well as evidence of the non-licensed person's academic qualifications or significant experience related to the subject area. The authorization is valid for one year and is non-renewable.

The hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis. The concept is used to convert the hours worked by several part-time employees into the hours worked by full-time employees.

An ineffective teacher is either not licensed or shows a pattern of ineffective practices as determined by a local evaluation.  

An inexperienced teacher or administrator has less than one year of teaching experience in Montana.

Out of field refers to any licensed Montana teacher teaching outside an endorsed subject area.

This three-year license may be issued to an individual who previously completed a bachelor's degree with a regionally accredited college or university, and now wants to become an educator. The application process begins with a plan of study from the college or university that the individual will be working through to obtain an educator degree. The plan must confirm that: 

1. the program will be completed in three years; and
2. that it will result in educator licensure

All district student enrollments from Preschool to 12th grade, who are enrolled for primary instructional services in a public school as of the Fall/October count date. This enrollment number excludes students who were not present for the 11th consecutive pupil instruction day immediately prior to the official count dates in the fall.

The per pupil expenditure (PPE) is the amount of federal, state, and local funds expended per pupil, disaggregated by source of funds.  PPE is calculated at the state, district, and school levels on an annual basis starting with the 2018-2019 school year.  Please visit the per pupil expenditure page for more information about exclusions, methodology and other reporting requirements.

This is the number of students who are enrolled for primary instructional services in a public school as of the Fall/October count date.

Academic Achievement indicator uses individual student performance on annual state tests (Smarter Balanced Summative assessment grades 3-8 and the ACT for 11th grade) as a measure of a student’s proficiency on grade level Math and English Language Arts content standards. 

An academic growth indicator uses individual student performance on annual state tests (Smarter Balanced Summative assessment grade 4-8) over a two-year period to determine the amount of improvement of a student’s proficiency on grade level Math and English Language Arts content standards between two consecutive years. 

The general math, reading/language arts, and science assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grade 11. For more information about the assessment, read the MontCAS Policies and Procedures for Participation in State Assessments. Additional information on the performance level descriptors for this assessment can be found on the Montana Technical Report Empirical Standard Setting for ACT.

All students, including students with disabilities and English Learners, are required to take part in the state assessments with or without accommodations. Students are expected to take part in state assessments in one of three ways:

1. Participate in the general education assessments without accommodations.
2. Participate in the general education assessments with accommodations.
3. Participate in alternate assessments when the participation criteria are met. 

The student has exceeded the achievement standards and demonstrates advanced progress toward knowledge and skills needed for likely success in entry-level credit-bearing course work after high school

An alternative assessment is an assessment based on alternative achievement standards which is designed for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who cannot participate in the general assessment even with appropriate accommodations. For more information about the assessment, read the MontCAS Policies and Procedures for Participation in State Assessments. 

CCR refers to 12th grade students having the skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to succeed in life after high school, whether that's college and/or career. This measure is based on benchmarks of success that include academic and content knowledge, cognitive and higher-order thinking strategies, and critical thinking and problem solving. A measure of college and/or career readiness is used for identifying high schools for support, which uses a combination of academic measures (based on proficiency and college readiness on the ACT statewide administration) and coursework measures (by including a percentage of senior students who are career & technical education (CTE) concentrators).  

English Learner Progress refers to evaluating English Learners' (EL) growth from one point in time to another. It considers how language growth impacts their mastery of the regular curriculum and graduation rates. Based on research, the OPI has determined that students growing at least 0.5 points on the composite score on the World Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) access test each year should attain English language proficiency within five years. The OPI’s definition of progress is any student who shows a 0.5-point growth on their composite score from the previous year.

Calculations are based on the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate for all students and for each student group who met the state standards with a regular high school diploma. 

Montana Aligned to Standards Through-Year. The MAST assessment was piloted in Montana in the 2022-2023 school year and field tested in the 2023-2024 school year. Due to a field test flexibility waiver granted by the U.S. Department of Education, students participating in the 2023-2024 MAST field test were not required to participate in the Smarter Balanced summative assessment.

A student participated in the 2023-2024 MAST assessment field test program if the student completed 65% or more of the testlets the student was required to take.

In extraordinary circumstances (e.g., medical emergency), individual students may be exempt in the participation rate calculations for the purpose of determinations under the accountability process. When a student cannot be tested at any time throughout the published test windows they are counted as a non-participant unless the reason is due to a significant medical emergency. Non-participation for any other reason will negatively impact the adjusted participation rate calculation. For more information about this policy, read the MontCAS Policies and Procedures for Participation in State Assessments. 

The alternate math and reading/language arts assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grades 3–8 and 11th  for students with significant cognitive disabilities. For more information about the assessment, read the MontCAS Policies and Procedures for Participation in State Assessments. Additional information on the performance level descriptors for this assessment can be found on the MSAA website. 

The student has nearly met the achievement standard and may require further development to demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed for likely success in entry-level credit bearing coursework after high school.

The student has not met the achievement standard and needs substantial improvement to demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed for success in entry-level credit bearing coursework after high school.

Percent progress refers to the percentage of students that showed growth from year to year. 

Proficient level means solid academic performance for each benchmark, reaching levels of demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter as demonstrated on the state assessment.

The general and alternate science assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grades 5 and 8.  For more information about the assessment, read the MontCAS Policies and Procedures for Participation in State Assessments. Additional information on the performance level descriptors for this assessment can be found on the Montana science website after validation and standards-setting activities in the summer of 2022. 

The general math and reading/language arts assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grades 3–8. For more information about the assessment, read the MontCAS Policies and Procedures for Participation in State Assessments. Additional information on the performance level descriptors for this assessment can be found on the Smarter Balanced website. 

This refers to a subgroup of students identified by a particular characteristic. The student subgroups used for the accountability system includes economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups (White, American Indian, and Hispanic), children with disabilities, and English learners.  Subgroups in the report card also includes other races, Gender, Migrant, Homeless, Foster, and Military connected. 

Students identified under the IDEA as being a student with a disability or disabilities receiving special education and related services through an IEP. 

Students who are eligible to participate in the Free/Reduced Lunch Program under the National School Lunch Act.

A student who has been impacted linguistically by their environment, who is identified as having limitations in their social and academic English language proficiency, and whose English language proficiency denies them the ability to meet the challenging state academic standards or the ability to fully participate and successfully achieve in classrooms where the language of instruction is English.  Please visit the English Learners OPI webpage for more information along with the English Learner Guidance For School Districts. 

Students are those who have a parent or guardian who is a member of the Armed Forces.  

A student with parents or guardians that make a qualifying move for agricultural work. More information can be found on the OPI website.

A student who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. More information can be found on the OPI website. 

As student with 24 hour substitution care for children place away from their parents or guardians and the child welfare agency has placement and care responsibility. More information can be found on the OPI website.