 Register your team today for this year's OPI Summer Institute, June 16-19, 2025 hosted at Montana State University in Bozeman.
$69 Registration
Campus housing, graduate credit, and parking available for a fee.
Statewide Special Education Director's Meetings
Due to the MCEC conference in Butte, there will not be a Statewide Directors meeting for the month of April.
The next virtual Statewide meeting is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, May 14 from 8:30-9:30 AM. Contact John Gorton, john.gorton@mt.gov if you need the link or the recording from the March meeting.
(previously known as the Special Education Community of Practice)
April 15, 2025 | 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Topic to Discover: Indian Education for All
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"Choose Your Path" April 2-3 in Butte, MT
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"Game Changer" April 3-4 in Billings, MT
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"Growing Gifted Where We're Planted" April 10-11 in Billings, MT
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MEC Upcoming Empower Me Lunch Series
Apr 17- What Happens if We Don't Agree on the IEP? Register here
Montana Autism Education Project
The OPI Montana Autism Education Project offers free autism trainings and consultations to Montana public schools educating students with autism. For trainings, consultations or other needs please contact Katie Mattingley.
You can find information and registration links for MAEP Trainings here.
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOPS (Virtual):
These workshops will be presented virtually, beginning 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM by Liz Kuehn, Eastern Clinic Coordinator for MonTECH.
April 25, 2025 | 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | Great Falls Hampton Inn
Presented by: Daniel Hyson
This session will review and discuss the 5 key tenets of a data-driven school and provide additional tools for and practice in engaging in systems-level data-driven problem solving, including especially with respect to problem analysis. Participants will also be introduced to a model for culturally-responsive problem solving and prompted to reflect on their own data-driven practice using the model. Finally, data on the potential impact of systems-level data-driven problem solving on student outcomes will be shared and participants will be provided an opportunity to consider how they can plan for assessing the impact of their work.
April 15, 19 & September 9, 16, 23, 30, 2025 |
4:00 - 6:00 PM | Virtual
Presented by Marci Parks and Tanya Peshovich
This comprehensive, six-part training series is designed to equip leaders and early childhood educators with the knowledge and tools necessary to build a strong early childhood program aligned to HB352 and Montana early childhood standards. Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of key legislative frameworks and evidence-based practices to support the development of a high-quality, developmentally appropriate program that ensures success for all children. These will be 2 hour sessions from 4pm-6pm.
Spring and Fall 2025 Sessions:
Session 1 April 15th: Early Childhood Basics: Understanding HB352, Standards and Assessment, and the instruction to Prioritize for Later School Success
Session 2 April 29th: Planning Ahead for the Early Childhood Classroom: Developmentally Appropriate Spaces and Materials for Optimal Learning
Session 3 September 9: Launching the Year: Setting Up Positive Behavior Supports, Schedules, and Routines
Session 4 September 16: Building Literacy Foundations (Part 1): The Power of the Alphabetic Principle for Later Academic Success
Session 5 September 23: Building Literacy Foundations (Part 2): Fostering Oral Language Skills for Later Academic Success
Session 6 September 30: Math from the Start: Essential Foundations for Early Numeracy
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May 21, 2025 | 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM | Havre -Best Western Inn & Suites
Presented by: Eliza Thomas
Join Eliza for a fast-paced day of Math instruction where participants will learn about how to enhance their math instruction through intentional Math routines, procedures, and vocabulary. Participants will actively engage in warm-up activities, games, and problem-solving throughout the day.
Participants will:
-- Experience and plan for data-driven routines,
-- practice and plan for student opportunities for productive struggle,
-- play and plan for games that can support routines and productive struggle,
-- experience a problem-solving strategy that can support productive struggle, student discourse, and the opportunity for students to write about their mathematical thinking.
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August 6, 2025 | 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM | Havre Best Western Inn & Suites
Presented by: Stephanie Lester
Part 1: Developing Children’s Number Sense
The first part of the training will dive into the developmental progression of number sense in young children. Participants will explore key predictive indicators for school readiness in mathematics and numeracy, such as subitizing, counting, one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, and hierarchical inclusion. This session will provide targeted instructional strategies to help teachers effectively introduce, reinforce, and build these critical concepts, setting the stage for academic success in mathematics.
Part 2: Math EVERY Day for EVERY Child!
The second part of the training will focus on integrating math into everyday classroom activities and routines. Teachers will be introduced to a variety of instructional strategies that give students continuous opportunities to practice and reinforce essential math skills throughout their day.
Participants will learn about inclusionary practices that ensure all students, regardless of their learning needs, have access to meaningful math experiences. The session will also cover developmentally appropriate strategies for knowledge and skill acquisition, making math accessible and engaging for every child.
 The OPI Special Education Team is excited to announce the opening of the Para Pathways Project and access to the online learning modules! The agency has contracted with LRP Publications for Montana’s use of their LRPDirectStep online professional learning modules. Access to these modules is available to all Montana public school district employees for FREE!
- Completion time for the learning modules averages between 45 minutes and one hour.
Professional development modules exist for administrators, general education teachers, special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and any staff working with students with disabilities.
Many topic areas are available for professional learning. IDEA, IEPs, 504s, and Autism are just a sampling of the LRP courses. There are more than 100 courses available.
- Earn professional development units for teacher/administrator level courses.
Special Education Paraprofessionals - If you are currently working in a special education role for all or part of your day and interested in professional growth, you qualify for the incentive pay ($20/module) for the Special Education Technician set of modules. Completion of the identified 40 modules is also one of the pre-requisites to entering Dawson Community College’s (DCC) Special Education Technician courses.
Find more information on our website regarding:
- Tips on how to create an account and access courses
- General information on the Special Education Technician program
- Special Education Technician modules for incentive pay and pre-requisite for DCC.
Included on the flyer above is a technical assistance phone number and email if you need help setting up your account. For any questions regarding the Special Education Technician program, please contact Anne.Carpenter2@mt.gov.
The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.
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