Disclosure: The Maine Wire is a project of the Maine Policy Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to expand individual liberty and economic freedom in Maine.
Once a national leader in education, Maine’s K-12 public schools system is facing a multitude of challenges, including declining reading and math scores, an increase in behavioral and mental health issues among students and a dire teacher shortage, according to a new report published Tuesday by the Maine Policy Institute.
The 91-page report, entitled “The Decline of Maine K-12 Education,” was authored by Maine Policy Institute education fellow and social science researcher Jonah Davids, and details a staggering decline in student achievement, teacher satisfaction and classroom safety in Maine schools over the past 38 years.
[RELATED: “Kids Count” Report Ranks Maine Schools 34th Nationally…]
Utilizing the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) ranking as a measure of academic achievement in math and reading, the report found that while Maine consistently ranked first or second for math in reading in the 1990s, by 2022 the state’s ranking has plummeted to an average of 36th nationwide.
A 20 percent increase in the average inflation-adjusted amount Maine schools spent on each pupil from 2006 to 2022 resulted in math and reading proficiency remaining stagnant or falling.
The report attributes this decline in part to a shift in educational policy driven by state and federal mandates that have “undermined local control over education” and burdened educators with multiple “deleterious effects” stemming from new teaching, testing and class management requirements.
Among those effects set forth in the report include teachers being forced to adopt new, often experimental, teaching methods that haven’t yielded consistent improvements, and schools having to juggle an ever-growing list of complex responsibilities, from raising test scores to addressing mental health concerns of students.
The report cites national statistics indicating that the median American teacher spends only half their time teaching, and 27 percent on grading, planning and administrative duties.
These “top-down, centralized, and bureaucratic” policies, Davids argues in the report, have resulted in a significant increase in administrative duties, leaving teachers with less time to actually teach, and have “blurred the line between teacher, therapist, and activist.”
According to statistics cited in the report, only 32 percent of experienced teachers in Maine are “very satisfied” with their job, and 56 percent recently considered quitting the profession.
Davids points to a 2020 study showing a significant source of job dissatisfaction among public school teachers is low pay, especially in Maine where salaries have fallen behind the national average and those of neighboring New England states.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt acutely in Maine schools, with the report finding that Maine experienced one of the largest drops in test scores during the
pandemic.
Maine is also currently facing “one of the direst teacher shortages in America,” with 1,311 educators quitting and 927 retiring in 2022, with a sharp uptick in resignations among public school educators beginning in 2020, per the report.
Also highlighted in the report is a recent rise in behavioral and mental health issues in Maine schools.
According to the report, incidents involving violence, drugs and weapons have nearly tripled in Maine schools since 2014, while Maine teachers now resort to using restraints and seclusion on students at a higher rate than any other state in the nation.
The mental health of students, particularly girls, is another troubling area discussed in the report, finding that nearly half of Maine high school girls reported feeling hopeless or sad in 2021, with a third reporting engaging in self-harm and 11 percent attempting suicide.
Additionally, Davids outlines the growing influence of gender ideology in schools, noting a tripling in the number of female students identifying as transgender — now one in 25 identifies as transgender — between 2017 and 2021, and instances of guidance counselors facilitating gender transitions without parental involvement.
Maine education, according to Davids, has become increasingly ideological, with schools prioritizing “therapeutic and ideological initiatives like social-emotional learning and diversity, equity, and inclusion over conventional academics.”
[RELATED: Liberal Minority Pushing DEI in Maine Schools, Most Want Back to Basics: MAINE WIRE POLL…]
“While individuals in good faith can disagree about these issues, schools that promote divisive ideological views violate the public trust, alienate many of their students and staff, and distract from core functions of schooling, such as teaching children mathematics, science, and history,” Davids writes in the report.
The full “Decline of Maine K-12 Education” report can be read here.
The Maine Policy Institute’s press release and summary of the report can be read here.
Davids joined Matt Gagnon, CEO of the Maine Policy Institute, on Newsradio WGAN Tuesday morning to discuss the findings of his report and the contributing factors behind Maine’s fall in nationwide education rankings.
“I think what’s perhaps unique about Maine is that it’s been a leader in education reform for a long time, and arguably just the reforms of the last couple of decades, and really the last decade in particular, have been really, really bad,” Davids said. “And so, being number one, being the leader, is not always good if the things that you’re leading in are themselves not great.”
[RELATED: Maine Education Chief: “Academic Learning” Takes Backseat to Social-Emotional, Gender, and Race…]
Emphasizing the role of top-down educational reforms and standards, Davids told Gagnon that “many of things can have some good elements to them, but you have to have a whole bureaucracy in place to do that, which ends up sort of cutting into the time and the bandwidth of normal teachers who are just trying to teach their classes.”
“I think right now is the time to look critically at what’s going on, go to your own school district, get involved, and just start to have these conversations about what can we get out of our schools,” Davids said, stressing the importance of schools getting “back-to-basics” on teaching.
Listen to Jonah David’s segment on Newsradio WGAN with Matt Gagnon below:
The rot starts at the top with Pender Makin and the DOE.
Why would you let the enemy raise your child? Homeschooling is the only option if you want them to actually grow into a functioning adult.
The talent pool available, in a VERY expensive state to live in, given what Maine public ed payscale is going to get you, consists of mediocre -at -best SJW types
No one should be surprised
This is the difference between teaching and indoctrination. Add in a union who cares more about the union and funding democrat politicians and this is the result you get. Just another thing democrats habe touched and destroyed, your child’s future. School choice and home schooling are a better option.
A one party controlled state equals disaster.
In the 1990’s it started with “Girl Power” posters in schools and drugging boys for acting like boys.
If you want to see the problem, go to schools’ district web sites and read the Superintendents’ statements of goals.
DEI, equity (not equality), and a bunch of virtue signaling non education related gobbledygook. Then look at how many illegals are in town.
City and Town Councils keep throwing taxpayer money at the schools. That’s never helped.
So. Ptld used to be one of the best school systems in the state. Now it’s the third worst.
You don’t suppose that the huge rise in the number of teachers teaching English as a second language has anything to do with it.
Test scores don’t lie!. We went from a Republican State to a Democratic State also.
Do what you can to get votes.. Trueancy was taken from the sin list with Joe Brennan as AG.
No prental over sight was required.
This is how you gain control of the masses. It starts in K-12. You dumb them down, then you can lead them by the nose. It’s a long game strategy. Very Marxist but effective. The Dept of Education should be abolished and control of schools and what is taught returned to local control.
Once upon a time, BC (Before Communists), a few decades ago, in a beautiful kingdom called Maine, life truly was a much better place to live freely without massive, stifling state control, manipulation and interference. We the People struggled with all the regular human flaws, vices and troubles. For most of us, a hard scrabble life and working several jobs to keep afloat was something to hang your hat on, nothing to be ashamed of. You may still be poor in pocket but rich in those things in life that are most important… trust in the Almighty Lord, support from your family and friends, and a keen sense on self independence, reliability. Taking government assistance, now that was shameful.
Children’s reading and math skill sets were statisticsally higher than today. They felt accomplished and more mature by receiving a well earned ticket called a high school diploma, the tool needed for self discernment to become anything they wanted out of life. Under our long Democrat oppression, children are ill-equipt in all ’round skill sets, most especially reading and math, one of the lowest in the Nation. Their work ethic is near nil; drugs keep them propped up; abortions loosen their morals; and partaking in general crime without punishment becomes a Maine way of life. By voting out the Augusta corruption, Maine has a chance at renewal, to live happily ever after!
Maine’s (1.3 million population) highly governed public education system should look to India (1.4 billion population) for instruction on how best to get the job done. While there are public schools in India, the majority of all education at all levels is provided by private enterprise … and it is growing still. Rather than hold its people back, India’s government is unleashing its people from government constraints, empowering its people who seek to learn more and prosper more than if left alone to the state. No wonder India has the fastest-growing economy in the world at more than 7 percent and is leading the way in the highly literate areas of high tech and health care.
Having taught overseas for three years, I could see this trend decades ago with the infiltration of Leftists into education when I got back to Maine. Now, you won’t witness any intolerance of conservatives in the public school system…because there aren’t any.
I left a 36 year career early as a public school teacher in the state of Maine in 2020. I attest to all of the findings this person uncovered. It is a sad state of affairs in Maine’s public schools. Never would I allow a child of mine to attend public school in Maine. I am a vocal proponent for home school teaching.
The more money we pour into schools .. the less we receive.This is what happens when politicians control the education system.They are more concerned with pushing an agenda and ideology ,rather than an education.
The k-12 school was designed to indoctrinate kids to become factory workers “work until the bell rings” now it used to produce woke adults.
Great report, I’ve passed this along to some teacher friends and they can confirm this.
All according to plan. Democrats love retards.
“Wild how all the Zionists in America (including in alt media) are so worried about anti-genocide protests on college campuses, but not at all worried about the continued mass bombing and killing of tens of thousands of women and children in #Gaza. As #Zionists, they readily and quickly slide into the role of playing “victim,” because that’s what has always given them mileage. But those days are over. Zionism = EVIL. The world sees the Zionists for who they truly are: Manipulators, murderers, ethnic supremacists and instigators of violence.”
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22 Apr 2024
I just reviewed quickly the report, eagerly hoping for insight and solutions based upon what other states are doing well, and why we’re falling short. I did find some nuggets, such as low pay in teacher’s salary, teacher’s not allowed to hold students accountable, consolidation of school systems to centralize control of schools (affecting rural communities more), and teachers being asked to do too many different things.
However, disappointingly I found the report had a constant thread of right-wing partisan politics that quickly made it lose credibility. The authors weave in legitimate research with bouts of political hyperbole that suddenly lack research and real connection with Maine students’ academic performance as compared to other states.
(BTW, quick search on who the authors are of the paper reveals that they are indeed a conservative think tank: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Policy_Institute#:~:text=The%20Maine%20Policy%20Institute%20(MPI,tank%20located%20in%20Portland%2C%20Maine.)
The issue at hand is Maine has lost significant standing academically compared to nearly all states. The report harps on worn out national political talking points of the the day and somehow implies that this is the root of Maine’s decline.
I would love to see some real, truly non-partisan research on how to improve our schools here in Maine. Our kids’ education is too important to make this yet one more arena for national politics. Let’s figure this out!