Missoula Schools Excellence

"My big pitch on Response to Intervention is that it is what will make Graduation Matters happen."

"I want a school that is positive, and students who are responsible and understand what the basic behavioral expectations are."

Let’s not wait until Thanksgiving and Christmas are upon us to to help the local food banks and other nonprofits stock up on supplies and check off every last item on their wish lists. It is one way we can help make those long weekends less worrisome ones for every Missoula student – and their families.

In the United States, almost 30 percent of people holding engineering and sciences degrees are 50 years or older and will soon retire. Americans now pursuing engineering degrees have decreased 20 percent since 1985. In contrast, students seeking engineering degrees in China and India have doubled since 2005. I see firsthand education affecting my profession, our ability to hire qualified staff and our country’s ability to compete in the global market place.

"Alex Apostle has been very forthright with me and accessible, so we’ve had some good, honest conversations," said Bishop, who took the reins of the county’s largest teachers union just two weeks ago. "The direction we want to go is one that will meet the goals of the district and make working conditions positive."

"When you say ‘technology,’ people think about the wires and the boxes," he said. "But what really matters are the verbs. You can have all the technology in the world, but the question is, ‘What are they doing with it?’ "

"The longer we pursue this dream, the better it is going to get. Together we can get to zero percent."

Graduation Matters Missoula is an initiative created by Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Alex Apostle, along with several local businesses and nonprofits. The project is designed to reduce dropout rates in schools and get every student to graduate.

Our idea includes: providing peer led prejudice reduction and violence prevention trainings to a total of 700 freshman students at Hellgate, Big Sky and Willard high schools

Join the District as it embarks on this highly collaborative process during the 2010-2011 school year. The goal is to identify the 21st Century teaching and learning model that will best serve students and educators, the facilities needed to support that model, and a plan for implementation.