Montana Superintendent Denise Juneau Recognizes Two Schools with Distinguished School Awards

OPI Hosts More than 300 Educators at Annual Title I Conference in Helena

Helena, MT – Superintendent Denise Juneau will recognize two Montana schools at the Office of Public Instruction’s annual Title I Conference for their accomplishments in high academic achievement and closing the achievement gap. This year’s conference will be held in Helena April 22-23 and more than 300 district and school personnel have registered to attend. Topics covered will range from effective strategies for unleashing student achievement and engagement to cultivating literacy in middle school mathematics.

This year’s featured speaker is Joanne Billingsley. A former regional Texas Teacher of the Year, Billingsley is a consultant, author, keynote speaker and nationally-acclaimed lecturer. She is renowned for delivering seminars that guide teachers in creating brain-friendly, language-rich, interactive classrooms. The keynote presentation is "Making Content Sticky: What to Do When Students Don’t Get It or Can’t Remember It – Six Steps to Building Academic Vocabulary."

Title I funds are used to provide additional academic support and learning opportunities to help economically disadvantaged children master challenging curricula and meet state standards in core academic subjects. Schools receiving distinguished school awards met three required qualifications including: a poverty rate of at least 35%, reaching high academic achievement for at least two years and reducing the achievement gap between student groups.

High Academic Achievement: Ulm Elementary, Ulm, MT
Ulm Elementary serves 94 students. Principal Lori Brown-Chauvet believes the school’s success is largely due to the family-like atmosphere of nurturing staff, community members, administration and board members. In addition to the collaborative efforts, small class size also helps them provide individual attention while maintaining high standards and expectations.

Closing the Achievement Gap: Plentywood 7-8, Plentywood, MT
Plentywood 7-8 has an enrollment of 54 students. Principal Rob Pedersen believes effective use of data is the key to their success. As part of their Response to Intervention program, students are regularly assessed on their abilities with DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) and on the mathematics abilities with the easy-CBM (Curriculum Based Measurement.) The assessments drive their student leveled groups as well as movement between them.

For more information, download the Title I Conference agenda:
http://www.opi.mt.gov/pdf/TitleI/2015Conf/15TitleIConfAgenda.pdf