Montana Common Core

Below you will find links that apply to each grade level, as well as myth vs fact about the Common Core Standards that will be in effect next year. There is also a link to Montana's OPI website which has a vast amount of information concerning the new standards.

Many people have difficulty understanding the difference between a state standard and a school's curriculum.

Think of it this way: "If, hypothetically, the qualifying jump in track for State Girls High Jump is 4'10" and the minimum toss to qualify for State Girls Javelin is 100', then that is the standard. How a school and a coach trains their athlete is like the curriculum. What equipment, drills, or methods a coach uses to train his jumpers or throwers are not dictated and may vary greatly from school to school. That is a local decision and is up to each school and each coach.

Similarly, we make all our own decisions on what materials and books we use and what and how we teach here at Harrison. Even amongst the schools of MEC, there may be very different methods for classroom instruction, or even different materals but our curriculum is our common guide.

Harrison Public School and the other schools belonging to our curriculum consortium (MEC), aligned its curriculum to Common Core prior to the 2012-13 school year. As our own teachers can attest to, the standards raised the bar for Harrison. We were able to, with the assistance from Harrison staff, including Linda Ehlers, Jason Roed, and Sheri Heavrin, make the necessary adjustments. The changes were good for Harrison. The schools that belong to MEC, including Harrison, are ahead of the curve on this. Importantly, it took MEC only 1 day to adjust our entire curriculum to the new standards.

The school's curriculum is available for review at the school office. If you have any questions or want to see what is actually in the school's adopted curriculum post Common Core, please feel free to stop on by.

No Child Left Behind & Adequate Yearly Progress Information

Below you will find links that apply to the Federal No Child Left Behind and Adequate Yearly Progress standards. There are also links to websites which have pertinent information pertaining to the subjects at hand.