Title I, Part A
Support for schools serving students from low-income families.
View funding source ↗Montana · Schools & districts
High-dosage tutoring for Montana schools.
Live, small-group virtual tutoring in K–12 math and ELA. Connect Montana’s early literacy and numeracy priorities, new math expectations, and targeted supports with focused instruction, student discussion, and a plan your school can put into practice.
A closer look at Montana
Your state’s priorities.
Your students’ next steps.
What Montana is prioritizing
State priorities.
Focused support.
Early literacy and numeracy. New mathematics standards in practice. Targeted support that keeps students connected to grade-level learning.
Official sources checked November 4, 2026
01Early literacy and numeracy, before gaps grow.
Montana’s emphasis
Montana expanded Early Targeted Interventions to include numeracy in 2025. Districts can offer classroom-based, home-based, or summer Jumpstart programs for eligible young learners, with screening and age requirements for each pathway.
The Cignition connection
Plan K–12 math or ELA tutoring around the needs your school identifies. Discuss early elementary skills, proposed lessons, and progress information with your team. State early intervention programs have their own delivery rules; live tutoring is a separate service.
02New math expectations. Meaningful student thinking.
Montana’s emphasis
Montana’s revised mathematics standards took effect in July 2026. The state’s implementation resources emphasize problem solving, mathematical reasoning, representations, and connections across learning. Indian Education for All is woven into Montana’s standards and guidance.
The Cignition connection
Use discussion, visual models, and purposeful questions to make student thinking visible. Review proposed tutoring lessons against your school’s new scope and sequence. Your team guides local priorities and culturally responsive connections.
03Targeted support that connects to grade-level learning.
Montana’s emphasis
OPI’s acceleration guidance connects targeted skill development with current grade-level learning. It describes high-dosage tutoring as consistent instruction by trained tutors or educators, at least three days a week for 30 minutes, in groups of five or fewer.
The Cignition connection
Discuss a recurring tutoring schedule that fits the students, skills, and learning goals your school identifies. Coordinate prerequisite support with classroom learning and review student progress together. Confirm the proposed frequency, duration, and grouping against your program’s requirements.
Our curriculum. Your instructional goals.
From a learning target
to student thinking.
Start with the skill your students need next. Connect the learning goal, the task, and the explanation that shows how a student is thinking.
The Montana connection · A closer look at instruction
From a learning need to the work students do.
Montana’s emphasis on early literacy and numeracy, mathematics standards, and targeted support provides context for reviewing this sample. Examine how a learner represents quantities, compares ideas, and explains an answer.
Compare the task and prerequisites with your classroom sequence and student work.
Explore a sample lesson
Elementary mathematics
Math · K–5 sample. Open the student lesson to examine the tasks for yourself.
Open the elementary mathematics sample ↗
What should we look for?
Consider how a learner represents quantities, compares ideas, and explains an answer. Which responses would help your team decide what the student understands and what to teach next?
How would this connect with our curriculum?
Compare the learning goal, task, language, and prerequisites with your classroom materials. Your school’s learning sequence and the students’ starting points guide that discussion.
How should we use this example?
This grade-band sample illustrates selected instruction. It has not been customized for Montana and is not a comprehensive state standards alignment. For a specific alignment question, share the standard and classroom materials with our team.
Inside a school partnership
A shared plan.
People to keep
it moving.
Cignition brings live virtual instruction, purpose-built lessons, a dedicated program manager, and participation and learning information. For example, a Montana school could consider a school-age math group linked to classroom instruction, separately from early-childhood programs with different delivery requirements. Your school provides protected time, technology, and local support. This is a planning illustration; service eligibility and the agreed scope shape any partnership.
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Turn the instructional need into a workable plan.
Your school team
Identify the students and reading or math goals, share classroom and screening information, and protect recurring time. Your team names an onsite contact and checks devices, connectivity, and the proposed use of school funds.
The Cignition team
Your program manager coordinates planning with your school. Cignition prepares tutor assignments, small groups, instructional materials, and launch arrangements around your Montana school’s early literacy and numeracy, mathematics standards, and targeted support.
Keep the session focused and students connected.
Your school team
Help students join on time, maintain a supervised learning space, and support participation or connection issues. Classroom teachers continue core instruction; tutoring provides additional targeted learning time.
The Cignition team
Experienced, carefully vetted tutors lead live virtual instruction using Cignition’s purpose-built curriculum, questions, models, and discussion. They respond to student work and record attendance, participation, and learning information.
Use the information. Keep the conversation going.
Your school team
Share classroom observations and school assessment context, review participation with your onsite contact, and identify questions about student learning or the routine.
The Cignition team
Your program manager shares participation and learning information and coordinates follow-up. Cignition’s instructional and implementation teams use that information with your school to consider grouping, learning targets, or scheduling adjustments.
Montana funding landscape
Understand the investment.
Find a relevant pathway.
Explore federal awards, rural education funding, Montana Reads, and after-school grants. Start with your school’s goals and the requirements of each pathway.
Selected federal funding for Montana
FY 2026 · Published statewide awards
Title II, Part A
Educator effectiveness and instructional capacity.
View funding source ↗Title III, Part A
English-language acquisition and support for English learners.
View funding source ↗21st Century Community Learning Centers
Academic enrichment during non-school hours.
View funding source ↗Read the MONTANA row and Fiscal Year 2026 column in each federal award table. Links highlight the row in supporting browsers. These statewide allocations are not unspent funds or a dedicated tutoring budget. Allowable uses differ. Title II supports educator capacity, not general tutoring services. Confirm your district’s available balance and approved use with its program lead.
Montana budgets and grant pathways
Funding reviewed November 10, 2026Supplemental support
through your school plan
District-controlled award · Approved use required
Who / what it supports
Title I-A supports schools serving high numbers or percentages of students from low-income families. Montana schools use schoolwide or targeted-assistance plans to address identified academic needs.
Where tutoring could fit
Review recurring math or ELA tutoring against your approved program, eligible students, instructional evidence, and available budget.
Practical next step: Ask your federal programs lead to confirm allowable activities, student eligibility, supplement-not-supplant rules, and purchasing steps.
Review Montana’s Title I-A guidance ↗Additional flexibility
for eligible rural districts
REAP · District eligibility and award year matter
Who / what it supports
Montana’s REAP guidance covers Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) and Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) funding. Districts eligible for both select one program.
Where tutoring could fit
Academic support may fit an eligible district’s approved use. SRSA can support activities under several ESEA programs; review the specific rules before budgeting tutoring.
Practical next step: Check the federal eligibility list and your award. The 2026 SRSA window closed May 18. RLIS moved into Montana’s ESEA application in summer 2026; confirm current timelines with OPI.
Review Montana’s rural funding guidance ↗Evidence-based literacy
within an awarded grant plan
2025 application closed · Current grantees listed by OPI
Who / what it supports
Montana Reads uses Comprehensive Literacy State Development funding to strengthen literacy from birth through grade 12, with a focus on disadvantaged children and evidence-based instruction.
Where tutoring could fit
An awarded district can ask whether supplemental reading support fits its approved literacy plan and budget. The statewide award is not an open grant or automatic funding for tutoring.
Practical next step: The published application deadline was March 14, 2025. Check OPI’s grantee list and discuss any proposed service or budget change with your grant lead.
Explore Montana Reads and grant status ↗Academic enrichment
beyond the school day
Existing grants · Confirm any new competition with OPI
Who / what it supports
Montana’s 21st CCLC program funds LEAs and community-based organizations for out-of-school academic enrichment, with literacy and educational opportunities for students and families.
Where tutoring could fit
Math or ELA tutoring may complement an awarded center’s academic program during non-school hours, subject to its approved plan and grant requirements.
Practical next step: Ask the center’s grant lead about its current budget and allowable services. OPI’s page lists program guidance, not a verified new application window; confirm future competitions directly.
Review Montana’s after-school grant guidance ↗Montana · Program fit & purchasing
Start with fit.
Confirm the requirements.
Montana’s federal programs and competitive grants have different eligibility, evidence, and spending requirements. Review the proposed lessons, tutor qualifications, scope, reporting, and funding with your district before contracting.
Include instructional, program, and finance leads in the contract, background-check, and student-data review. An award does not itself approve a provider or the proposed service.
A few useful questions
What would you like to work through?
Start here, then bring the questions specific to your students and school.
How would tutoring connect with Montana learning goals?
Start with your school’s learning goals, curriculum sequence, and student work. Montana’s revised math standards are effective for 2026–27. Review proposed lessons and prerequisite support with your team. The activity on this page is illustrative; it is not a reviewed Montana curriculum crosswalk.
How would sessions fit our Montana school day?
Discuss your intervention block, grade levels, group sizes, and staffing. Live online tutoring also needs reliable internet, suitable devices, and a supervised learning space. For rural or remote communities, work through access and attendance arrangements before launch.
Is this the state’s home-based Early Targeted Intervention program?
No. Montana selected Waterford for its home-based Early Targeted Intervention program. Cignition’s live K–12 tutoring is a separate service. Classroom-based and Jumpstart programs also have specific age, staffing, curriculum, and instructional-hour requirements. Review any proposed service with your district and OPI before using state program funds.
Could rural education funding support tutoring?
Potentially, if your district is eligible and the activity fits its SRSA or RLIS award. The two REAP programs have different eligibility and administration requirements. Confirm the approved use, available balance, and purchasing process with your federal programs lead.
Are Montana Reads or after-school grants open right now?
OPI lists Montana Reads grantees and a March 14, 2025 application deadline. Its 21st CCLC page provides guidance for after-school programs; a new competition window has not been verified here. Existing grantees should review proposed tutoring within their approved plan and budget. Confirm any future opportunity directly with OPI.
What if I’m looking for help for my own child?
This page focuses on school and district programs. For individual support, explore Cignition’s one-to-one math and ELA tutoring for families.
Your school’s next step
Let’s plan around
your students.
Planning around early literacy and numeracy, mathematics standards, and targeted support? Request curriculum examples, implementation details, evidence, or funding information for your Montana school before deciding whether to book a call.
On our contact page, choose “Another question” for an information request or “School or district tutoring” to explore a program.