MONDAY MORNING KEYNOTE: 

The Three Ships: Relationships, Leadership, and Partnerships with Dr. Randy Russell

The 3 Ships: RelationShips, LeaderShip, and PartnerShips, will address several key questions, including:
 • Do you want to build and develop meaningful relationships?
 • Are you ready to improve your leadership capacity and skills?
 • Do you want to increase and strengthen your partnerships?
This keynote will help answer these three questions and strengthen relationships, grow and develop leadership skills, and identify and promote partnerships. The order of the three ships is intentional. The book begins with relationships because of their importance in our everyday lives. After relationships, it moves into leadership, which cannot improve without building successful relationships with the team. The book concludes with partnerships because partnerships rely on strong relationships and leadership within the community to be effective. 

The first 200 attendees to arrive at the keynote session will receive Randy Russell's Book: The Three Ships: Relationships, Leadership, and Partnerships.

TUESDAY MORNING KEYNOTE: 

Limitless Learning: Learn, Lead, and Live without Barriers with Stanford University Nominelli-Olivier Professor Dr. Jo Boaler

Recent years have seen an explosion of scientific evidence showing that there is a different way to learn, lead, and live, available to us all. When people take a limitless approach to learning – in learning and in life – different pathways open up, leading to higher, more equitable, and more enjoyable achievement. In this session we will consider what this different approach is, thinking about the ways we can teach students to increase equity, engagement, and achievement. 

The first 200 attendees to arrive at Tuesday's keynote will receive a copy of Dr. Boaler's book: Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead, and Live without Barriers. 

PM SESSION: Teaching and Learning Multidimensional Mathematics with special guest Cathy Williams, Stanford University

WEDNESDAY MORNING KEYNOTE:

Navigating the Future: Harnessing the Power of Montana’s Graduate Profile with Mary Anne Moran and John Clements

John Clements and Mary Anne Moran are Co-Principals of Nipmuc Regional High School in Upton, Massachusetts. As principals, they find inspiration in leading a school community to live an aspirational vision for learning and supporting students to thrive in the modern world.

The presentation will focus on introducing Montana’s educators to the graduate profile with the following intended outcomes:

• Develop an understanding of the graduate profile.
• Discover the relevance of the graduate profile across all grade levels.
• Explore how graduate profiles can be designed to align with each educator’s and each learning community’s mission, vision, and beliefs about learning.
• Review and practice practical strategies to help educators, schools, and districts move from idea to action with the graduate profile.
• Explore examples of how schools use the graduate profile as a focus of teaching and learning.
• Establish a sense of enthusiasm about the impact of the graduate profile on Montana’s students.

Featured Speaker: Dr. Zelphine Smith Dixon

SESSIONS: Inclusive Leadership: The Heart of the Matter and A Tiered Framework of Supports: Keeping Students First

Featured Speaker:

Dr. Tessie Rose Bailey

SESSIONS: Taxonomy of Intervention Part 1: Selection of Interventions and TI Part 2: Intensifying Interventions; Using Response to Intervention (RTI) to determine Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

Special Education Parent Involvement Survey

The OPI has moved from a paper and pencil survey to an electronic special education Parent Involvement Survey. With this, the agency has also moved from a sampling of parents to a census of parents (one parent per household). On March 4, 2024, all districts and cooperatives received several templates to provide to parents. Districts and cooperatives can provide the survey link to parents in the following manners: text, email, in person, or with the QR code. The survey is now open through June 30, 2024.

Starting in August of 2024, districts and cooperatives can provide the survey link to parents at any time throughout the year, such as at IEP team meetings, parent teacher conference, etc. There will be a Spanish and English version. The OPI has Braille copies, as well as the Duxbury file. If you have parents who are visually impaired or blind, please reach out to Danni McCarthy at dmccarthy@mt.gov or 406-594-3610 (call or text).

*New* Series on Dyslexia on the Teacher Learning Hub

Created by Middle Tennessee State University for the OPI 

Chapter 1: Defining the Science of Reading (2 PDUs) The science of reading is used to denote the knowledge we have acquired as a society through decades of research into what reading is, how it develops, and how best to teach it. 

Chapter 2: An Overview of Dyslexia (2 PDUs) Educating teachers about the nature and consequences of dyslexia, as well as some of the conditions that commonly co-occur with dyslexia, is an important first step in ensuring children with characteristics of dyslexia are identified early and provided with appropriate, intensive instruction and intervention. Chapter 2 takes participants through a brief history of dyslexia, what current research has to tell us about how the brains of individuals with dyslexia differ from those of individuals who do not have dyslexia, and the primary and secondary characteristics of dyslexia, particularly in the primary grades (kindergarten through second grade). The module concludes with a consideration of conditions that commonly co-occur with dyslexia and the implications of this co-occurrence for instructional practice and intervention.

Chapter 3: Screening for Dyslexia  (2 PDUs) This course covers using an MTSS/RTI framework to screen for and identify students at risk for dyslexia across grades K-2. It teaches the problem-solving model: identifying reading difficulties, analyzing underlying deficits, developing intervention plans, evaluating outcomes, focusing on using data, and the Simple View of Reading.

Self-Study Series on Child  Development 

Three popular courses on child development have recently been added to the Hearing First Professional Development catalog as self-study courses! Professionals working with babies, toddlers, and kids need to have an understanding of the fundamentals of typical child development, especially for improving LSL outcomes. These courses are now available on-demand so that you have access to this essential information! This series focuses on typical development for children 0-18, 18-36, and 36-60 months, including brain development, physical and cognitive development, theory of mind, literacy, and socio-emotional development.

Click below to learn more about each course and to start learning on-demand!

• Child Development Prebirth-18 Months in LSL Intervention
• Child Development 18-36 Months in LSL Intervention
• Child Development 36-60 Months in LSL Intervention

AAC & Proloquo2Go: How to Design a Better Implementation! 

Presenter: Julie Doerner

Missoula: June 28 @ 8:30 am-4:00 p.m.

Be sure to check out these Six NEW Trainings! with Julie Doerner offered virtually 4x each from March to June.  

Virtual Trainings with Dr. Jennifer Schoffer Closson: 

JUNE 10

• June 10 @ 9:00-10:30 a.m. Stop Behavior Before It Starts: Part 2 - Getting Ahead of the Behavior
• June 10 @ 10:45-12:15 p.m. Behavior for ASD: Refusal Barriers
• June 10 @ 1:00-2:30 p.m. Brain Differences for ASD: What It Means for Behavior
• June 10 @ 2:45-4:15 p.m. Girls with Autism 

JUNE 17

• June 17 @ 9:00-10:30 a.m. Stop Behavior Before It Starts: Part 1 - Understanding Behavior
• June 17 @ 10:45-12:15 p.m. Stop Behavior Before It Starts: Part 2 - Getting Ahead of the Behavior
• June 17 @ 1:00-2:30 p.m. Brain Differences for ASD: What It Means for Behavior
• June 17 @ 2:45-4:15 p.m. Executive Functioning: It Presents as Interfering Behavior

JUNE 18

• June 18 @ 9:00-10:30 a.m. Behavior for ASD:  Refusal Barriers
• June 18 @ 10:45-12:15 p.m. Behavior for ASD:  Sensory Barriers
• June 18 @ 1:00-2:30 p.m. Behavior for ASD: Relationship Barriers
• June 18 @ 2:45-4:15 p.m. Behavior for ASD: Communication Barriers

Building Functional and Creative Learning Systems

Kalispell: June 10-11@ 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

iPad Boot Camp

Virtual: June 19th @ 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Refresh Your PECS: Back to School Edition