The sharing of American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) cultures and lifeways provides opportunities for helping young children form deep connections to their community, which, in turn, aids in the development of their early language and literacy skills. This issue brief--based on interviews with eight Tribal Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home…

The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems…

Graduation rates are a fundamental indicator of whether or not the nation's public school system is doing what it is intended to do: enroll, engage, and educate youth to be productive members of society. Since almost 90 percent of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs require some postsecondary education, having a high school diploma and the…

This report summarizes a series of studies on school size, poverty, and student achievement. These studies analyzed 29 sets of test scores from various grades in Georgia, Ohio, Montana, and Texas to examine the relationship between school-level performance on tests, school size, and community poverty level. The studies found that as schools become…

This study examined the effectiveness of the Montana Early Literacy Project (MELP) curriculum on literacy and language skills of preschool-age children in Head Start. The MELP model utilizes everyday events and existing routines of classroom and home environments to build literacy and language directly into children's daily experiences. Using a…