Montana: College and Career Policies

The State Board of Education has full authority to adopt standards.

Professional development or renewal activities are required for teacher certificate renewal.

Montana updated the technology standards in 2010.

Classical languages and some American Indian languages will often have a different communication focus than modern languages. The standards and benchmarks, designed to encompass all aspects of language learning, are applied as they fit the recognized purpose of the study of a particular language. Oral proficiency is not the major outcome of studying a classical language nor are reading and writing primary outcomes in learning all American Indian languages.

Administrators must complete 60 renewal units during the course of the active license.

The Arts consists of Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts. The content and performance standards
for the Arts describe what all Montana students should know and be able to do in the Arts. Although
literary arts are generally considered a part of the Arts, standards for the literary arts are integrated throughout
the Communication Arts.

Montana has standards in 13 different areas including art, career and technology, English language arts, English language proficiency, health enhancement, library media, mathematics, science, social studies, technology, traffic education, workplace competencies, and world languages.

The Montana Board of Public Education has full authority to adopt assessments.

The State Board of Education has authority over Career and Technical Education standards.

Montana updated the traffic education standards in 2014.

The Accreditation and Educator Preparation Division provides leadership, oversight, and support of elementary, secondary and postsecondary education in Montana. The Montana Educator Performance Appraisal System (Montana-EPAS) is the state model for the evaluation of teachers and school leaders. This standards-based evaluation system is designed to encourage professional learning through a continuum of career development. The Montana-EPAS provides useable tools for school districts to pilot the state model or use a common framework to begin aligning local systems of evaluation to the state standards. Improving professional practice of educators will help to assure student success.

The primary purpose of the model Montana Educator Performance Appraisal System (MONTANA-EPAS) for evaluation of teachers is to foster continuous professional growth, enabling success for all students. The model state evaluation system is based on three core concepts: professional growth, continuous improvement and quality assurance.

The Montana State Board of Public Education oversees the Montana teacher certification process and dictates the requirements needed in order to become certified within the state.

In order to become a certified teacher in Montana, an applicant must have at least a bachelor's degree, completed a Montana teacher certification program, and completed a supervised teaching experience..

The Montana Board of Public Education oversees teacher preparation program accreditation.