If You Build It . . .
They will come. This is the quote from the famous film "Field of Dreams", in which an Iowa farmer plows under his corn crop to build a baseball diamond.
In a similar fashion, the MSU Department of Education "built" the Master of Arts in Teaching program. We knew the difficulty school leaders experience in recruiting new teachers to rural Montana. We believed if we could draw on communities’ strengths and recruit local people with bachelor’s degrees into teaching careers, we could educate future teachers in their home town, in just over a year. No lengthy preparation program; no move to Bozeman.
With the MAT in place, we then applied for a Teacher Quality Partnership grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The Montana Rural Teacher Project was the only grant recipient in the Rocky Mountain West, funded at $6.2 million. We are extremely proud of the MRTP and its foundation of partnerships with educational organizations from across the state.
Those admitted to the MAT degree program are offered the opportunity to apply for the MRTP. Participants receive a living wage stipend while they complete the 12-16 month degree program. They then receive two years of mentorship through the induction phase in exchange for a commitment to teach in an eligible Montana school.
We have built it.
We need your help to identify prospective students as YOUR future teachers.
Is your school on the map? Check here.
We are recruiting for the final MRTP cohort.
Elementary track starts - January 2022 (applications due Oct 1, 2021)
Secondary track starts - May 2022 (applications due Dec 1, 2021)
If you know of prospective applicants, please contact
Photo credit: CNN