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Fall 2024 Middle School Briefing

MTDA Announcement

Fall 2024 Middle School Briefing
for
Counselors, Administrators, and Site Facilitators

Late Updated 4/24/2024

Notice to students and parents: This information is intended for distribution to schools and districts only and may contain details that do not apply to your local district’s participation in MTDA services. If you are interested in enrolling in courses with Montana Digital Academy, your first contact should be with the counseling department and administration of your local public school to discuss what is available locally.  MTDA does not take enrollments directly from students or their parents.

Cost-Sharing Statement

On June 14, 2021, the MTDA Governing Board exercised its authority granted by MCA 20-7-1202 to begin cost-sharing with districts.  This applies to the MTDA middle school programming.  Before enrolling any student for the upcoming term, please review our information page regarding payment: link.

Please Sign Up Now for Announcements/Enrollment Accounts

If your middle school/junior high program is new to MTDA, we strongly encourage you to get set up in MTDA systems now to make sure that you are able to enroll quickly should the need arise.  Please get in touch with the MTDA support desk (support@montanadigitalacademy.org) to discuss how to get enrollment accounts in our system and sign up for our facilitator announcement list.

Middle School Options

MTDA middle school course offerings include core courses, world language, and several electives.  These offerings are intended to be used by schools for individual student enrollments (not whole group or grade) that are vetted by local schools for appropriate inclusion in the program.  This is in line with the MTDA Governing Board policy that our program is intended to supplement, not supplant, local school programs.

All MTDA courses are one-semester in length and follow the MTDA academic calendar.

Middle School Core Courses

MTDA middle school core courses are aimed at 6th, 7th, and 8th students.  The classes are keyed to Montana state standards and designed to provide students with grade-level appropriate instruction to prepare for future learning in that content area.  Our courses may or may not match your local school’s curriculum and scope and sequence.  MTDA is a “course access” program and provides students with courses at their advertised grade level.  If you have a student who is substantially behind grade level, please consider enrolling students at the grade level they can successfully navigate as an independent learner.

In social studies, each level has a “focus area,” including the ancient world (6th grade), US history (7th grade), and government/civics (8th grade).  In science, focus areas are life science (6th grade), earth science (7th grade), and physical science (8th grade).

Middle School Electives

MTDA offers six elective courses.  MTDA staff chose these course titles based on a review of curriculum assets, feedback from focus groups, and teacher availability.  We hope to expand elective offerings in the future based on feedback and needs.

Still Available: Middle School World Language

MTDA continues to offer Middle School Spanish (single semester) for Fall 2024. NOTE: Middle School Spanish (single semester) has an enrollment cap of 100 enrollments in this program due to teacher availability. Enrollment is first-come, first-serve.

MTDA has added Middle School French (single semester) for Fall 2024. NOTE: Middle School French (single semester) is limited to ONE section, due to teacher availability.  These slots are available first come, first served.

Registration

  • Please review our student registration page for information on data collection, entrance counseling, and student registration in the site facilitator handbook.
  • Please be mindful of course requirements and prerequisites.  We rely on local school officials to determine appropriate placement in MTDA programs and services.  If you are in doubt about particular course placements, please contact the MTDA support desk for guidance and advice.
  • As noted in our facilitator handbook, each student account must have an accurate, unique, and functioning email address for each student enrolled in the system.  If your district’s student email system blocks outside emails, please work with your IT department to unblock MTDA email addresses BEFORE enrolling.  Additionally note, Apple iCloud.com addresses do not allow access to many automated email systems; please use an alternative.
  • Registration for Fall courses is open now.  We will again enforce an “Initial Course Request Deadline” on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.  MTDA will finalize sections on that day and assign teachers.  We may or may not have additional slots open in any particular course after this day.  If you choose to enroll a student on or after the course start date on September 3, 2024, you must play an active role in helping that student get in the course and catch up to pace.  Students that are enrolled after the course starts have a significantly higher drop rate and ultimately lower success rate.
  • Please use the enrollment counseling forms when enrolling students and give a copy of the form to the student after enrollment.  This form helps decrease confusion on behalf of the student and their parents and opens up communication lines.  Our enrollment counseling page is here: LINK.

Program Information

  • Our course list for Fall 2024 is here: Middle School Course List LINK.
  • Our 2024-2025 Academic Calendar is located here: LINK.
  • Our 2024-2025 course catalog and course offering lists are located here: LINK.
  • Significant program changes (please check back here for an up-to-date list):
    • NEW Learning Management System – Canvas
      • In conjunction with the Montana University System, MTDA has converted all programs to the Canvas Learning Management System. All support handbooks and orientations are being updated through the 2024 spring term.
  • IEPs/504 information: If you have a student that has 504 or IEP accommodations, please review required procedures for sharing accommodation requests in our site facilitator handbook (short link to specific pages: link)

Contact Us

If you have any thoughts to share or would like to discuss the program’s implementation, please contact us to schedule a consultation.