Purpose 
Montana's Project STRIDE (Strengthening Teacher Retention, Instructional Design, and Education)
outlines a set of professional development activities focused on improving outcomes for students with
disabilities, and other students at risk for academic failure who have yet to be identified, by increasing
access to skilled teachers and educationally responsive classrooms. The project has three major goals:
(a) increasing access to the general education curriculum; (b) engaging in strategies for early
intervening; and (c) enacting planned efforts that focus on the recruitment and retention of highly
qualified teachers.

Method   
The initiatives of this project will take a number of forms, using strategies that meet nationally
recognized standards for high quality professional development.  These initiatives are further aligned
with school improvement initiatives supported by Title I and Title II monies.  Finally, evaluation
grounded in a Results and Performance Accountability evaluation model will ensure that ongoing data
collection and analysis will inform continuous improvement efforts as well as outcome analyses.

Products 
Anticipated outcomes include: (a) schools provided with multiple avenues of support through
which teachers increase their capacity to plan and deliver instruction; (b) students with disabilities provided
with more effective and intensive reading interventions; (c) piloted and evaluated training and
technical assistance activities to determine necessary components for an effective RtI model; (d)
guidance documents developed for LEAs that want to implement early intervening strategies; (e) RtI
pilot project refined and replicated to encompass additional LEAs; (f) professional development
activities provided for LEAs seeking to implement early intervening services; (g) schools supported to
provide mentor programs for new special education teachers; (h) professional development options
developed to enable special educators to meet established criteria to become highly qualified in core
curriculum content areas; and (i) highly qualified personnel supported and prepared to work with 
children in Montana.

Back to Grantees page