The Montana Professional Learning Collaborative (MTPLC) is an ESA and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing educational outcomes for students by providing comprehensive professional development and support services to educators and schools. MTPLC serves schools of all sizes, including those in extremely rural and tribal communities. MTPLC offers affordable self-paced online courses for continuing education credit through the University of Montana focusing on English Language Arts, Gifted Education, and Indian Education for All (IEFA), a Montana constitutional mandate that all students learn about the history, diversity, cultures, and sovereignty of Montana’s tribes. Other program areas include in-person and virtual workshops on such topics as Artificial Intelligence in Schools, Dyslexia, Behavioral and Mental Health and hosts the yearly August Institute, a three day hybrid conference currently in its 28th year.
MTPLC also delivers specialized consulting and administrative support in the areas of special education, teacher mentorship, Title I program development and monitoring. Finally, MTPLC administers a Stop School Violence Grant, which includes programs like Montana Cares, Mandt training, and Character Strong, providing mental health support and social emotional skill development for rural and tribal students.
If you are interested in taking any online Educational Leadership course, visit Educational Leader Courses - MTPLC.ORG for information on registration and further course description.
All Courses are available for Graduate Credit only. Students must complete the course through MTPLC, with a passing grade, before registering for credits. If you were not instructed by MTPLC to use one of the portals below, please do not register for any open section. If you do not see your portal below, please email coco.ponce@mso.umt.edu
Available Courses:
EDLD 595: Rural Schools: The Supervising Teacher
The self-paced online course provides a foundation for supervising teachers in rural Montana Schools. This course may also be useful to principals in rural districts that do not hire a superintendent and for newly elected or contract county superintendents. By exploring topics often associated with the principalship or superintendency of a school district, new and experienced rural school administrators will become familiar with topics and resources specific to Montana. The overarching goal of this course is to provide rural school administrators with a toolkit for success in their unique educational community. Often this will require changes at the district level which the rural school administrator must facilitate. By the end of the course, the course participant will have developed a Supervising Teacher Procedure Manual that can be handed off to future supervising teachers in the district.
