This information was last updated on 4/15/2020 @ 9:20 am.

Montana Digital Academy continues to monitor the situation regarding Covid 19, the novel coronavirus. Our team meets daily, and reviews news and communication from local, state, and national health and education agencies.

High School Original Credit (Updated 4/15/20)

Thank you for all of your efforts locally to help support your MTDA student enrollments during this extraordinary time. We appreciate staying connected to you and remain willing to work through individual issues as they arise.

Below is our plan for ending the remainder of the Spring 2020 original credit semester. Our intention is to continue with this plan, regardless if physical schools reopen or not. Should the statewide education or public health situation substantially change, we will revisit the plan.

FINALS PROCTORING REQUIREMENTS ARE CANCELED: No MTDA original credit class will require a proctored final. Most courses will make adjustments to the end of course requirements, including adapting finals, moving toward performance or competency-based assessments, etc. Teachers will announce any changes directly to students on or before April 20, 2020.

MISSING ASSIGNMENT ZEROS GRADUALLY REINTRODUCED STARTING APRIL 20: Starting Monday, April 20, 2020, MTDA teachers will introduce zeros for missing assignments. By May 4, 2020, we will be back to our standard zero policy, which places zeros in for assignments not turned in by the deadline. Our teachers remain open to working with individual students to work through issues, but the student must connect with their MTDA teacher ASAP to report issues and work through it with the instructor. The end of the semester is too late to do so!

GRADES REPORTS WILL BE RELEASED AS IN THE PAST: We will release accurate percentage grades to schools after our semester ends. It is up to local schools to determine final letter grades based on local policies and procedures, along with adaptations made to account for individual circumstances (including lack of Internet access, health and safety issues, or others).

SCHOOLS SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THEIR ENROLLMENTS: Schools are encouraged to monitor their student enrollments to determine if their participation in their MTDA course remains in the best interest of the student. If a student’s circumstances have changed or their participation untenable, you should consider dropping that student to diminish further stress.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of any additional assistance, or if you wish to discuss individual students or situations.

High School Credit Recovery (Updated 4/15/20)

MTDA’s credit recovery program reopened on March 30, 2020, with emergency adaptations in response to school closures.  We emailed the primary facilitator with updated information with a request to confirm receipt.  If you didn’t receive that information, please contact support, support@montanadigitalacademy.org.  We intend to continue to follow our previously announced spring calendar.

Middle School Multi-Langauge Sampler (Updated 3/26/20)

The second session of the MLS program will open on March 30, 2020.  We have emailed the primary facilitator with updated information with a request of confirmation of receipt.  If you didn’t receive that information, please contact support, support@montanadigitalacademy.org.

We continue to monitor this situation and will update our website as information unfolds. As always, we will work with you and your students to the best of our ability to help make sure that students are served as best as we can. Please don’t hesitate to contact MTDA’s staff (support@montanadigitalacademy.org), 406-203-1812, should you have any questions or wish to discuss the situation further.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is MTDA able to provide classes to my school’s students if we close?

MTDA is Montana’s public K-12 online supplemental program and receives its funding in an appropriation from the Montana Legislature. MTDA uses these funds to provide schools and students with enrollments in Original Credit, Credit Recovery and Middle School World Language classes. Since the appropriation is a set amount each year MTDA fully uses these funds to deliver the online program and has no additional capacity to expand instructional services, provide learning platforms/software and content to schools. We would like to share our expertise and experience in delivering technology-enhanced learning to schools as part of our mission to increase digital learning opportunities for students. We will release information the week of March 16, 2020, with resources and opportunities to connect with MTDA staff to discuss best practices and strategies.

What resources does Montana Digital Academy have for districts looking to provide online learning options for themselves?

MTDA staff has put together a series of resources for schools that are looking to move to remote teaching.  You can find those materials here: link.