Montana
Montana reports student test scores improve in math, fall in English
HELENA — The Montana Office of Public Instruction has released the latest rounds of student assessment data – the last round of data before a big change in the state’s testing model.
The 2023-24 assessment scores for students from third grade to eighth grade are based on the year-end Smarter Balanced test. Only a little over half of Montana students in that age group took the test last school year, as a number of school districts piloted the new MAST program – four or five short “testlets” given throughout the year, instead of a large final assessment. All districts are implementing MAST for the 2024-25 school year.
Last year, 38.7% of students who took the Smarter Balanced assessment rated “proficient” or “advanced” in math. That number has increased each of the last three years – 35.6% in 2020-21, 36.5% in 2021-22 and 37.5% in 2022-23 – but it’s still lower than the 41.9% in 2018-19, the last year of data before the COVID pandemic disrupted assessments.
For English and language arts, 44.2% of students were at least proficient last year, down from 45% in 2022-23, 46.2% in 2021-22 and 46.4% in 2020-21. In 2018-19, 50% of students were proficient or advanced.
MTN News
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen says the aggregate numbers may not be giving the full picture.
“There are multiple stories with just a single number, let’s put it that way,” she said.
Arntzen said her office is more focused on “cohort numbers” – tracking how proficient the same group of students has been each consecutive year. For example, students who completed eighth grade last year were third graders in 2018-19. OPI’s data shows the number of students rated proficient or above in reading fell from 48.4% when they were in third grade to 42.9% when they were in eighth grade. In math, those numbers fell even further, from 48.6% to 33.7%.
“We’ve got a trend of data that has come since we’ve had the disruption of learning – the disruption of learning was COVID,” said Arntzen. “We all remember that something was lost during that period of time.”
Arntzen has long argued that year-end tests aren’t the best way to measure students’ proficiency, and her office has touted MAST as a way to get a better view of their learning, while allowing teachers to make adjustments sooner.
“If the federal government demands that we have an assessment tool, should it not also be one that Montana teachers can also use as a way of enhancing their teaching?” she asked?
For now, MAST covers only math and English, but the U.S. Department of Education has awarded the state a grant of nearly $4 million to develop science assessments for sixth grade through eighth grade.
“One more time, I’m grateful for the federal government to allow Montana to be innovative,” Arntzen said.
Arntzen says there are more positive signs in the assessment results for older students. Among 11th grade students taking the ACT, 52.5% were proficient in English – down slightly from 53.4% in 2022-23 but up significantly compared to 42.1% in 2021-22. In math, 30.7% of students were proficient – up from 30.6% in 2022-23 and 25.3% in 2021-22.
Arntzen says that could be a sign that students who were older when COVID happened are having an easier time rebounding.
“Normally you have a learning curve that goes uphill, but that’s not what has happened in our earlier grades,” she said.
Assessment results for individual schools and districts are now available on OPI’s website, through the GEMS tool.
Montana
Montana State doctoral student awarded national research service grant for gut microbiome, arsenic research
MISSOULA — Four out of five members of Montana’s Public Service Commission were in a federal courtroom in Missoula Thursday morning, as the PSC’s former president challenges the disciplinary action taken against him earlier this year. Now, newly released documents are shedding more light on to what led up to this point.
(Watch the video for a closer look at the case.)
New documents shed light Montana PSC dispute
Commissioner Brad Molnar has sued President Jeff Welborn, Vice President Jennifer Fielder and Commissioner Annie Bukacek – the three PSC members who voted in May to require him to work remotely, after an investigation into complaints about his workplace conduct. Molnar has claimed he is being unfairly punished for constitutionally protected speech, and he asked Senior U.S District Judge Donald Molloy to allow him to return to the PSC offices.
Matthew Monforton, Molnar’s attorney, told the judge that barring Molnar from the building was limiting his ability to do his job.
“He has not been officially kicked out of office, but his voice has clearly been diminished,” said Monforton.
But Natasha Jones, an attorney representing the other three commissioners, said the findings were about behavior, not just speech, and that the PSC’s action was a reasonable response.
“These are serious concerns about a pattern of conduct that has made employees quit,” she said.
Jonathon Ambarian
On Tuesday, Molloy ordered the release of redacted versions of two full investigative reports into Molnar’s conduct – more than 100 pages of documents. Monforton had moved for the full reports to be made public, and Molloy ruled attorneys for the other PSC members hadn’t shown a compelling reason to keep the documents under seal as long as the names of people involved in the investigation were obscured.
While the names remained redacted in the investigation reports, the attorneys for Welborn, Fielder and Bukacek also filed additional documents – including a public declaration from Bukacek and from former PSC executive director Alana Lake, providing information about their allegations against Molnar.
The two reports, from an outside investigator, cover Molnar’s alleged actions over two periods: the first from February to August 2025, and the second from August to October 2025. The investigation began after the first formal complaint, filed by Bukacek in May 2025 – though the reports say employees had been bringing up concerns about Molnar’s behavior informally for several months prior.
Bukacek’s complaint claimed Molnar had repeatedly made what she called “sexualized and demeaning comments.” The examples she cited included saying the PSC should replace “Taco Tuesdays” with “Topless Tuesdays,” reminiscing about watching girls in bikinis as a teenager, and commenting about the beauty of women in areas of China who didn’t get “old and wrinkly.”
In her declaration, Bukacek also claimed Molnar had “maliciously disseminated false information” about her and “engaged in behavior that was dismissive, derisive and otherwise abusive.”
“My primary concern now is not for my safety nor my feelings, but for the rest of the staff who may not have the temperament to speak up or may feel too intimidated to speak up given concerns over job security,” Bukacek said in her declaration.
MTN News
The investigators determined Molnar had violated the PSC’s code of conduct by making comments of a sexual nature, and that it appeared his behavior had continued for some time after he was warned about it. They also found he had behaved unprofessionally and in a belittling manner toward Bukacek, though they said Bukacek herself had at times used “language that could be considered inappropriate” in emails to staff or other commissioners. Bukacek told MTN she “readily self corrected” any behaviors that were brought to her attention.
The investigation also found a violation in connection with a complaint from a PSC staff member, who said he “felt bullied” by Molnar when the commissioner sent an email complaining about his team not being “people with competence.”
However, much of the first report and the entire second report was focused on conduct after the initial complaints, when Molnar was accused of retaliating against people who participated in the investigation. Lake said in her declaration that she saw “an immediate and significant change in his behavior toward staff involved in the process.” She claimed he said he would use an attorney and private investigator to go after people who filed complaints, and she accused him of publicly criticizing her in interviews and removing her job responsibilities because of her handling of the investigation.
Lake said Molnar’s actions led to “declining morale within the agency,” undermined staff members’ ability to do their jobs and damaged her reputation. She said that led her to resign as executive director.
“I believe no employee should be forced to choose between reporting misconduct and protecting their career, reputation, or personal well-being,” she said in her declaration.
Lake has since become Helena city manager.
Jonathon Ambarian
The report said there was evidence to show Molnar had retaliated, including by “making disparaging statements about investigation participants” including Lake, by sending an email warning he could file complaints of his own against people involved, and by taking other actions investigators said could dissuade employees from reporting behavior in the future.
Monforton said during Thursday’s hearing that the initial comments Bukacek complained about were jokes Molnar had admitted were inappropriate, that he regretted saying them, and that he hasn’t made any similar comments in about a year. But he argued the vast majority of the findings against Molnar were about retaliation – and that those were primarily based on speech that the other commissioners don’t have the right to interfere with.
Monforton said it’s unreasonable to punish Molnar for what he said in the July news conference where he announced he was under investigation, in interviews with the media or in commission meetings. He said Molnar’s conduct doesn’t rise to the level of actual retaliation.
“This is an elected official, engaging in speech in his forum,” Monforton said.
He said Molnar may have made harsh comments toward staff, but that he had the right to raise objections about the way the agency does business.
Jonathon Ambarian
Monforton also argued the retaliation claims no longer justify keeping Molnar out of the office, since Welborn, Fielder and Bukacek voted to remove him as president in October and he no longer has the authority he’s accused of misusing. He said there haven’t been further complaints about his behavior since that time.
“We’re not asking for the moon and stars, we’re asking for the status quo as it existed for the last seven months,” he said.
Jones said there is enough evidence to show Molnar would have been punished regardless of whether any protected speech was excluded.
“This is not about a couple of jokes,” she said.
Jones said Molnar made maliciously false statements about people like Lake, and that type of statement isn’t covered by free speech protections.
She also said Molnar’s exclusion from the PSC offices is temporary, and that the PSC will reconsider whether to let him return if he apologizes for his actions, accepts the agency’s code of conduct and undergoes training.
Molloy indicated he saw indications that there was “acrimony” on both sides of the situation, and said he was skeptical it would be resolved easily.
“It would be nice if instead of juvenile behavior, there was professional behavior,” he said.
However, the judge said there was an avenue for Molnar to pursue if he wanted to reach a resolution.
Molloy took no immediate action Thursday. He told the parties he would rule as quickly as he could.
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