The Science Math Resource Center (SMRC), part of the Montana State University Department of Education, is dedicated to advancing STEM teaching and learning across Montana. We support K–12 educators in rural, tribal, and urban communities through professional development, conduct educational research, and create STEM programming for learners of all ages. As a member of the Education and Workforce Development team for Montana NSF EPSCoR, SMRC works to strengthen Montana’s competitiveness in science and engineering research and development.

These reports summarize the professional development needs and interests of Montana K–12 educators, with a focus on teachers of STEM subjects—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The findings offer valuable insights for:

  • Montana University System researchers and others with STEM resources, helping them identify ways to share expertise with K–12 educators and amplify the broader impacts of research.
  • School administrators, professional development providers, and agencies that support classroom teachers, guiding decisions that align with educators’ priorities.

By understanding these needs, we can work together to create meaningful opportunities that strengthen STEM education across Montana.

Full Report

Summary

Working with Montana rural K–12 classrooms and out‑of‑school / informal education settings (citable guidance for researchers)

Some rural education context in Montana

  • Nearly half of survey respondents teach in communities with populations of 2,500 or fewer, underscoring the continued rural nature of Montana’s education system.
  • Over 35% of educators work 50 miles or more from the nearest college or university, and 6% work more than 100 miles away, limiting access to external professional learning and university partnerships.
  • Educators in rural and small schools commonly “wear many hats”—teaching multiple subjects and grade levels, coaching, supervising extracurriculars, teaching driver’s education, or covering administrative gaps—constraining time and flexibility for professional development (PD).

Why should research impact efforts prioritize rural youth and educators?

  • Educators across Montana—STEM and non‑STEM, all grade levels—believe that STEM and STEM‑integration PD improves teaching quality (94% agreement), yet access remains uneven, particularly in rural and remote districts.
  • While 56% of educators now report access to quality STEM PD (an increase since 2020), nearly half still lack reliable access, indicating persistent geographic and logistical gaps.
  • Montana schools continue to experience teacher and substitute shortages, now identified as the single greatest barrier to PD participation—surpassing funding, travel, or time.
  • Rural educators face compounded challenges related to distance, cost, isolation, and limited subject‑specific offerings, all of which heighten inequities for rural students.
  • Barriers and inequities are often felt most strongly by educators and students who are:
    • From small or remote districts
    • Teaching multiple subjects or grade bands
    • Serving low‑income communities
    • Supporting students with disabilities, first‑generation students, and other historically underserved groups

Montana Educator Needs Assessment (2024)

Montana educators remain highly motivated to engage in professional learning, but participation depends on whether offerings are relevant, accessible, and appropriately supported.

Biggest barriers to participation in professional development

  • Lack of substitute teachers (new to the 2024 survey; most frequently cited barrier)
  • Having to pay out of pocket for registration, travel, lodging, or materials
  • Not enough time off from work, including time required to plan for substitutes
  • Significant travel distances, especially for educators far from “central” locations
  • Limited and uneven funding for PD at the district level
  • Technology constraints, including inconsistent broadband for some teachers and restrictive school network filters that block platforms/resources

Teachers want to connect with university researchers

  • 87% of educators are interested in having access to contemporary datasets used by university researchers.
  • Educators’ top preference for connecting research to classrooms:
    • Researchers traveling to schools to interact directly with students (especially valued in rural communities).
  • Educators want research integration to be classroom‑ready, not abstract.

Most useful research‑related resources

  • Curated, standards‑aligned lesson plans showing how datasets can be used in classrooms (84%)
  • Examples of using real research data to address real‑world problems (74%)
  • Professional development on using datasets in teaching (72%)
  • Raw datasets alone were rated least useful (27%)

Preferred formats for professional learning

Educators consistently favor human‑centered, collaborative formats, with flexibility to reduce travel and time burdens.

Most preferred

  • Face‑to‑face PD at their own school
  • Collaboration through professional learning communities
  • Face‑to‑face PD at regional hubs
  • Hybrid models (start in person; continue online)

Timing preferences

  • Intensive summer workshops
  • PD during contracted school hours
  • Strong resistance to PD on evenings and weekends, especially when unpaid or personal time is required

High‑interest professional development topics (2024)

Across subjects and grade levels, educators expressed strongest interest in:

  • Montana computer science standards (highest‑ranked topic)
  • Place‑based instructional opportunities
  • Educational technologies
  • Connections to local STEM industries and organizations
  • Linking classroom instruction to college and careers
  • Integrating literacy practices with STEM learning
  • Inquiry‑based labs and engineering design practices
  • Montana science and math standards

Research‑relevant takeaway

Montana educators are eager partners in research broader impacts—particularly when engagement is:

  • Local (researchers come to schools)
  • Contextualized (place‑based, real‑world relevance)
  • Supported (travel, substitutes, stipends budgeted)
  • Translated into standards‑aligned, usable classroom materials

Teacher voices (illustrative themes from open responses)

  • “We often attend workshops where our needs are significantly different from teachers who teach only one discipline.”
  • “Planning for a substitute takes far longer than the actual lesson.”
  • “Most teachers do not want to use personal days—or personal money—to attend PD.”
  • “Distance, cost, and lack of substitutes make even good opportunities feel impossible.”
  • “We want real science, real data, and time to collaborate about how to use it.”

Other key insights

  • Educators who participate in university‑ or state‑led programs often want to present and share those experiences at conferences, but lack travel and registration funds.
  • There is strong interest in continued connection after PD—mentorship, follow‑up, and peer sharing—rather than one‑off workshops.
  • The growth of four‑day school weeks (31.5% of Montana schools) may reshape PD timing preferences, particularly for Friday offerings.

Full Report

Summary: Working with Montana rural K-12 classrooms and out-of-school / informal education settings (citable tips for researchers)

Some rural education data points

  • In Montana, 75% of K-12 schools are rural, the highest proportion among U.S. states.
  • Montana has more one-room schoolhouses than any other state
  • In many rural districts, one educator teaches MANY classes, often multi-grade (plus they coach sports and lead extracurriculars....and maybe drive the bus, make school lunches, etc.)
  • For 85% of rural elementary school children, their daily one-way bus ride exceeds the recommended time of 30 minutes*. Children from higher-poverty rural schools experience more mileage on unpaved roads and over mountainous terrain.

*Bus ride research reflects national demographics but is not specific to Montana

Why should we use our research impact opportunities to support rural youth and communities?

  • Youth in rural communities have fewer opportunities for high-quality STEM learning than their peers in urban and suburban areas. (classes, school extracurriculars, out-of-school time opportunities, etc.)
  • A statewide teaching shortage has exacerbated existing conditions; the more rural the school, the more difficult the challenge.
  • Rural people who pursue STEM education have limited opportunities to pursue relevant careers in their home communities and often must leave home to establish a new career.
  • Prolonged impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have further amplified social, educational and health inequities in rural communities.
  • Challenges can loom larger for girls and women; minorities; people with disabilities or special needs; people without a lot of money; and First Generation college students.

Montana educator needs assessment1

Montana educators are eager to expand their skills through professional development (PD); however, high-quality PD is not always readily available, particularly in rural areas.

Biggest barriers to PD participation are:

  • Availability of substitute teachers
  • Having to pay out of pocket to attend
  • Not enough time off from work
  • Significant travel distances
  • Lack of resources (books, materials for experiments, etc.)
  • Technology (some schools do not have continuous access to high-speed Internet)

Teachers want to connect with university researchers!

  • 81% of teachers (all subjects, all grades) are interested in resources related to university research
  • Top need: Researchers travel to their school to interact directly with students (especially important for rural educators)
  • Most teachers said they were interested in having access to contemporary data sets used by researchers

Most useful formats:

  • Curated lessons plans providing examples of how the data sets can be used and how they align with Montana standards
  • Examples of how data sets can be used to tackle real-world issues
  • Professional development designed to stimulate how data sets can be used in the classroom

Quotes from teachers

  • “Rural focused information would be nice. We often attend workshops where our needs are significantly different than those science teachers who teach only one discipline.”
  • “Planning for a substitute is typically done on our own time and takes far longer than the actual lesson.”
  • “Most teachers do not want to use personal days to take time off school to attend PD.”
  • “I do not have a car for traveling beyond my town. I do not have funds …for purchasing equipment.”

Other

  • Teachers who participate in MSU programs would like to present about them at their own professional conferences but don’t have funds to travel/register
  • Teachers also need financial support to interact with their professional associations

References

1Meyerink, M. and S. Taylor. 2021. Montana Educator Needs Assessment. MSU Science Math Resource Center. https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/16458*