Superintendent Arntzen Releases Historic Montana School Accreditation Statuses

• Brian O'Leary
• July 18 2024

HELENA – Superintendent Arntzen released historic accreditation statuses [vmm0dj30.r.us-west-2.awstrack.me] for Montana schools during today’s Board of Public Education (BPE) meeting. The 2023-2024 accreditation status includes 833 Montana public, state funded, and private accredited schools. There are four accreditation determinations outlined in ARM 10.55.605 [vmm0dj30.r.us-west-2.awstrack.me]:

• Regular - the school has met the assurance standards and student performance standards as defined in ARM 10.55.606 [vmm0dj30.r.us-west-2.awstrack.me], and the Licensure Endorsement Requirements Related to Teaching Assignments
• Regular with Minor Deviation - the school does not meet all the requirements of regular accreditation. Schools have three years to remedy the deviation, or a lower category of accreditation will be assigned.
• Advice - the school exhibits serious and/or numerous deviations from the standards.
• Deficiency - the school is in advice status for two years, has not complied with the required corrective plan, and continues to have serious and/or numerous deviations, or has substantially increased the seriousness of deviations over the previous year.

The current 2023-2024 accreditation status shows the lowest percentage of schools receiving a Deficiency status and the second highest percentage of schools receiving a Regular status. The accreditation status for all schools, elementary schools, middle grades, and high schools is:

All schools:

*Assurance standards only. Schools could maintain their 2019-2020 accreditation status or improve using 2020-2021 assurance standards due to COVID-19.

**Schools maintained their 2020-2021 accreditation status due to COVID-19.

Elementary schools:

*Assurance standards only. Schools could maintain their 2019-2020 accreditation status or improve using 2020-2021 assurance standards due to COVID-19.

**Schools maintained their 2020-2021 accreditation status due to COVID-19.

Middle grades:

*Assurance standards only. Schools could maintain their 2019-2020 accreditation status or improve using 2020-2021 assurance standards due to COVID-19.

**Schools maintained their 2020-2021 accreditation status due to COVID-19.

High schools:

*Assurance standards only. Schools could maintain their 2019-2020 accreditation status or improve using 2020-2021 assurance standards due to COVID-19.

**Schools maintained their 2020-2021 accreditation status due to COVID-19.

“The accreditation process was revised through a very public and transparent process to focus on more meaningful outcomes for Montana children,” said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. “The new process holds schools accountable through Montana’s local control model. Stronger school accountability leads to stronger student outcomes and more robust family and community engagement.”

This year, the accreditation process [vmm0dj30.r.us-west-2.awstrack.me] was based on the new Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) 10.55 [vmm0dj30.r.us-west-2.awstrack.me] that were approved by BPE last year. School accreditation standards include rules on curriculum, class sizes, teacher and staff qualifications, Indian Education for All, and student learning assessment to ensure all students receive a quality education. This year, 833, or 100%, of Montana public, state funded, and private accredited schools submitted data.

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