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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
It is such an honor to represent Montana's public schools and to serve as the top advocate in the state for our public education system. I recently delivered the State of Education Address to the Montana House of Representatives and the Senate. I was joined by Commissioner of Higher Education Clay Christian, Board of Public Education Chair Patty Myers and the 2013 Teacher of the Year Eileen Sheehy from Billings. You can view the speech in its entirety on our website.
I spoke about the exciting work happening across the state through Graduation Matters Montana, the success of the Montana Digital Academy, the implementation of our new, higher standards in English and math, the need for 21st Century classrooms, and the innovation that happens daily in Montana schools and classrooms because of our dedicated teachers and school leaders.
I have a great job. I get to travel all over our beautiful state and see first-hand why we have so many reasons to be proud of our public schools. Our students consistently perform in the top ten states in reading, math and science. Dropout rates are decreasing, and graduation rates are climbing. We have great outcomes in Montana because our schools are innovative and work to meet the needs of their communities and students.
As your State Superintendent, I will continue to celebrate the great things happening in our public education system and confront our challenges head-on by working with local schools and communities. I will continue to fiercely advocate for all those who dedicate their lives to public education and, most of all, for our kids.
Please don't hesitate to contact me to share your ideas on how we can make Montana's great public education system even better.
OPI has developed a resource to provide guidance for instruction that incorporates the Indian Education for All (IEFA) curriculum resources aligned with the Montana Common Core Standards. The IEFA Companion Guide can be found here.
Indian Education connections provide the content that makes the standards come alive. Both the grade-specific Montana Common Core Standards and the OPI Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians connections with the curriculum resources are identified throughout the Companion Guide, along with suggestions for instructional activities.
The connections outlined in the Companion Guide have been incorporated into the individual units for the elementary level which you can access here. The revised middle school and high school editions will follow soon. We encourage districts to utilize the Companion Guide as an integral part of their alignment and revision efforts to implement the Montana Common Core Standards.
For further assistance on integrating IEFA in the Common Core Standards, please contact Julie Saylor at 406-444-0754 or jsaylor@mt.gov.