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Spring 2026 High School Original Credit Briefing

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Microphone with MTDA logo on it.

For Counselors, Administrators, and Site Facilitators

Updated 10/17/25

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 or 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 in fall 2022.  This applies to the MTDA original credit program.  Before enrolling any student for the upcoming term, please review our information page regarding the cost-sharing: Cost Sharing

Registration

  • IMPORTANT REMINDER: Students must be enrolled in the “B” section of all full-year courses. This does not happen automatically. Please prioritize this task to ensure a smooth semester transition for students enrolled in a full-year course.
  • 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 Spring courses is open now.  We will again enforce an “Initial Course Request Deadline” on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.  Some courses have enrollment caps due to available staffing and may fill before the request deadline. 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 January 20, 2026, you must play an active role in helping that student get started and catch up to pace.  Students who 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.   Enrollment Counseling Forms.
  • For Spring 2026, MTDA will continue to allow up to 7 original course enrollments per semester per student.

Program Information

  • Spring 2026 Course List
  • 2025-26 Academic Calendar 
  • 2025-2026 Course Catalog
  • Supporting Students with Accommodations
  • MTDA and the NCAA For Student Athletes
  • Significant program changes:
    • Please check back here for an up-to-date list
  • Course Enrollment Limitations
    • Indigenous Languages courses are limited to ONE section, due to teacher availability.  These slots are available first-come, first-served.
    • German II, French II, and Spanish III are limited to ONE section, due to teacher availability.  These slots are available first-come, first-served.
    • Video Production is limited to ONE section, due to teacher availability.  These slots are available first-come, first-served served.
    • Photoshop is limited to ONE section, due to teacher availability.  These slots are available first-come, first-served served.
  • Returning Courses
    • Cybersecurity is a CTE elective (Single Semester)
  • The drop deadline for the spring term is February 10, 2026.

2025–2026 Advanced Placement™ Information

Thank you for entrusting your student with MTDA for an Advanced Placement™ course. We are very proud of our AP™ program, which has experienced growth in the past five years, outpacing the rest of our program. Our exam passage rates exceed the state average, and we continue to refine our delivery and engagement models. We have had positive and constructive feedback from our students and look forward to continuing to enhance and polish the student experience in the program. We, of course, also welcome your feedback!

MTDA will offer dual credit and Advanced Placement™ courses.  However, AP™ exam administration and registration are completely outside of MTDA.  Schools should keep a close eye on the College Board’s “AP Central” website for updates regarding testing in the Spring.

Resource: AP™ Central Webpage

Test Administration / Ordering Exams

You must plan and take action now for students taking the Advanced Placement™ tests in May 2026.

As a distance learning provider, MTDA has no role in the administration of Advanced Placement™ exams. We will do our best to assist, but exam administration happens in face-to-face environments and not online.

Please refer to this excellent resources from the College Board on setup, enrollment, and ordering tests:

Resource: Learning Opportunities for AP Coordinators

FOR SCHOOLS THAT ARE ALREADY REGISTERED TO OFFER AP EXAMS: In addition to the earlier fall deadline, the process for ordering exams changed for students back in Fall 2019.  You need to create “exam only” sections for your MTDA AP students, and then order exams for that particular section. Otherwise, the process is the same for your local students.

FOR SCHOOLS THAT ARE NOT REGISTERED TO OFFER AP EXAMS, your options are to register to do so, or, work with a neighboring district that offers AP testing. With shorter deadlines, we recommend that you start the process today to determine the best setup for your MTDA AP students.

The best resource to get started is the College Board’s “Start AP” page, located here: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/start-grow-ap/start-ap

The page contains an excellent set of resources on how to get started, including a timeline and contact information for assistance at the College Board itself. The “Getting Approved to Administer Exams” page goes through that process step-by-step. Once that is complete, you will need to order exams, per the directions above.

Course Audits

As you may be aware, all schools and outside course providers must pass a rigorous “Course Audit” to qualify to appear on the College Board’s Advanced Placement Ledger. We are in the process of clearing the annual College Board audits in all courses. All courses have been cleared the audit process for the 25-26 school year.

Like past years, the College Board has asked all providers, like MTDA, to inform you in writing that you must take an additional step locally to have MTDA’s courses appear in the ledger associated with your school. With your local course audit account, you must explicitly choose the course and associate it with MTDA as an external provider. It is our understanding that you must complete this process by January. However, we would advise doing so as soon as possible.

Additional Assistance

We know that the processes involved can be challenging and that instructions aren’t necessarily clear. We suggest contacting the College Board first with questions. If you are not able to get a clear answer or if the answer conflicts with what we are advising above, please contact the support desk.

We sincerely appreciate working with you to help serve students across the state by delivering programs like Advanced Placement™ courses. Do let our staff know if we can be of any assistance!

Spring 2026