Data and Research
The Montana SLDS first received a Statewide Longitudinal Data System grant in 2009. This Institute of Education Sciences award allows states to build their infrastructure, dissemination, and research capacity. This is done through promoting linkages within state government, school districts, and universities. Our data portal, GEMS, is the premier source of education data within Montana. School districts rely on GEMS daily as this is the OPI resource for reporting and transparency. In 2019, OPI received a supplemental grant to study the uses of alternative poverty measures. In doing so, OPI focused on the research uses of the alternative poverty measures in comparison to Free and Reduced Priced Meals data.
In 2021, OPI received another Institute for Education Sciences grant focused on building the research capacity of the SLDS. This grant enabled research on the Montana Early Warning System, a predictive analytics tool used in dropout prevention. This tool was found to be accurate in its predictions. Participating districts that made full use of the system, and showed that there is a strong association between subgroup performance and graduation. Native students, in particular, were 7% more likely to graduate if they had an EWS score.
Published Articles
The final article discussing the process, implementation, and impact of the Montana Early Warning System. Co-authored with C. Stoddard and A. Hill.
Comparisons to alternative poverty measures. Research performed as part of a Supplemental SLDS Grant that investigated School Level Poverty Measures.
Summary of findings from the SLDS poverty measures study published by American School Board Journal.
Groundbreaking research by partners at the University of Montana regarding the impact and effectiveness of four-day schools.
Request Data
- Visit the GEMS website (Growth & Enhancement of Montana Students)
- Visit the GEMS (Growth & Enhancement of Montana Students) website to view publicly available data. Please note the PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS below prevent some data from being publicly available
- Some data is masked on GEMS to protect student identities.
- Request Secure Access to the G EMS website
- School and district officials, educators, and other individuals with a qualified educational purpose may request to view “unmasked” data via a secure account. Request secure access.
- Link to OPI non-employee form
- Link to OPI employee form
- Fill out a Data Request if you still haven't found the data you need.
Please allow 3 weeks for your request to be completed
PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS
207-7-104, MCA - “Transparency And Public Availability Of Public School Performance Data -- Reporting -- Availability For Timely Use To Improve Instruction” restricts the release of students’ personally identifiable information (PII) as follows:
“The superintendent of public instruction may not share, sell, or otherwise release personally identifiable information to any for-profit business, nonprofit organization, public-private partnership, governmental unit, or other entity unless the student's parent has provided written consent specifying the data to be released, the reason for the release, and the recipient to whom the data may be released.”
All publicly available K12 education data is suppressed, or masked, in order to protect student privacy. when data is masked, you will see an asterisk ( * ) instead.
The OPI is prohibited from publishing student-level information or disclosing data from student groups that are 5 or fewer in number or that would otherwise reveal the identity of an individual student. Montana has many small schools and small sub-group populations where an individual student’s identity could be revealed without this safeguard.
OPI Staff are here to help
- GEMS Helpdesk, opigemshelpdesk@mt.gov, 406-444-5222