Superintendent Arntzen Proudly Accepts Assessment Grant for MAST Science Program

• Brian O'Leary
• September 05 2024

HELENA - Superintendent Arntzen is proud to announce that Montana is one of ten states that has been awarded the 2024 Competitive Grant for State Assessments (CGSA). Montana received $3,999,974 to implement the Montana Aligned to Standards Through-Year (MAST) Science assessment for students in grades 6-8. The 2024 CGSA will fund a new four-year initiative titled: Scaling MAST Assessment to Middle School Science.

“The MAST Science program reflects Montana’s ongoing commitment to innovative assessments that more accurately measure our children’s academic success,” said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. “The new science addition of MAST will include robust professional development for our teachers and school leaders to ensure effective implementation. MAST focuses on local accountability by aligning student assessments to local curriculum that follow the Montana teaching and learning standards.”

The expanded MAST Science program will achieve the following goals by 2028:

• Meet federal peer review requirements to replace existing grade 8 summative science assessments
• Align local curricula to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and create intentional cross-grade alignment of curriculum scope and sequence
• Streamline local assessment by providing educators, administrative leaders, students, and families meaningful, timely, and actionable data in one cohesive assessment system
• Ensure NGSS-aligned through-year assessment (TYA) resources are publicly available and widely shared nationwide
• Provide comprehensive professional learning for all Montana elementary and middle school ELA, math, and science educators on assessment literacy and data-informed instruction

To meet these goals, this project includes four major strategies: 

• Produce a science TYA with extensive stakeholder engagement, iterative piloting, and authentic integration of Indian Education for All, culminating in a statewide field test for all 35,000 eligible students at Montana’s 217 middle schools
• Develop professional learning experiences to help educators use the science TYA to support standards alignment and differentiate instruction
• Expand the existing testlet scheduler tool to include science and design score reports that reflect disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and cross-cutting concepts from the NGSS
• To support effective administration and widespread acceptance, integrate science into existing TYA communication vehicles.

Montana was awarded $3 million for the 2022 CGSA to complete the MAST Pilot program. The MAST pilot took place during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years. The pilot included nearly half, or 30,000 students in grades 3-8, and 200 schools across Montana. During the 2024-2025 school year, the MAST program will be used as the federally required student assessment for math and English Language Arts in grades 3-8.