GROWING GIFTED WHERE WE'RE PLANTED
The 2025 Montana AGATE Conference is less than 3 weeks away, but there is still time to register for this annual event. Reserve your hotel room at the Bighorn Resort in Billings and enjoy two days of learning from the best! Multiple breakout sessions and workshops will provide excellent training. Keynote speakers this year are Tamara Fisher Alley and Dr. Amy Price Azano.
***All pre-service teachers (college students in teacher prep programs) get a dramatically discounted $25 registration fee.
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Edufest July 21-24, Boise, ID
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NAGC November 13-16, Pittsburg, PA
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The Montana Gifted and Talented State Grant Intent to Apply is open in E-Grants.
Final confirmation of the total funding amount is pending legislative approval. In the recent past, this grant has been funded at $700,000 for a two-year legislative cycle.
You must submit the Intent to Apply before midnight on May 1 to be eligible for funds for 2025-2027 school years.
New for 2025, the grant will be allocated by OPI on a one-year basis rather than two, with a continuing application for districts between the two years of the legislative grant cycle. School systems wishing to participate in the grant must:
- Be current on all reporting requirements for Gifted and Talented grants from previous years.
- Update the Achievement in Montana (AIM) database to include all identified GT student in the school system.
- Agree to submit as part of the grant application a copy of the local Gifted and Talented Education Program Plan which must be in compliance with ARM 10.15.804
- List the actual local funding for the GT program as matching funds for the potential grant funds required in state law, MCA 20-7-903(3).
- Assure the OPI that items 1-4 have been completed and are accurate.
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Submit the completed Intent to Apply by midnight, May 1, 2025 (by the Authorized Representative).
Bring your friends and colleagues for an amazing learning experience including a GT workshop. Campus housing, graduate credit, and parking available for a fee.
Infinite Campus now requests that an evaluation date be entered for each GT student. This effort to record more accurate data allows for a GT designation to follow a student throughout his or her school career after identification. Schools will not have to check a box over and over each year. We know some of your students have been identified for a long time. If you know or can reasonably estimate the date that the student was evaluated (based on your universal screening grades, for example), please enter that information into the system so future school staff will have as clear a picture as possible of the student. If you do not know the exact evaluation date for students identified before this school year, you may enter June 30, 2024 so that we know that it was some time prior to this school year. Do your best for the students with the time and records you have.
If you are in need of engaging GT professional development for coordinators, individual teachers, teams, school staff, district personnel, or your school board, OPI has got your back. Contact to Jenny Jarvis to schedule trainings, presentations, and support.
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Did you know that the OPI has a wealth of information about and tools for Gifted Education on its website? You can learn about legislation, programming, funding, and much more. There is even a link to a full Gifted Education Training Site filled with helpful resources to make your program for gifted and advanced learners the best is can be! Find the GT section on the OPI website by going to the Educators tab, then Teaching and Learning, then Gifted, Talented, & AP. Be sure to check out the Framework for GT Plans on the website (link below as well) for a detailed description of Montana State Board of Public Education requirements (Administrative Rules of Montana) for Gifted Education.
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Questions about Gifted and Talented in Montana?
Contact:
Jenny Jarvis, GT/MTSS Program Support Specialist, 406-410-1140
Tammy Lysons, CETA Unit Manager, 406-431-2309
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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