Children in Maine were found to have some of the worst education outcomes in the nation according to the latest edition of the Kids Count Data Book.
Health outcomes were middling, while economic and family and community metrics were some of the strongest in the country.
Taken together, Maine children were found to have the 21st best overall well-being in comparison to kids in other states, a drop from last year’s ranking of 17.
Maine was found to have the steepest decline since 2019 of any state in the nation in overall well-being, followed by Nebraska, North Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota.
This report is published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Baltimore that focuses on “developing a brighter future for millions of children and young people with respect to their educational, economic, social and health outcomes.”
[RELATED: New Report Analyzes the Decades-Long Decline of Maine K-12 Education]
Academic outcomes for Maine students are poor not only in comparison to other states, but also in relation to Maine children just a few years ago, experiencing one of the most dramatic drops in the country since 2019.
Approximately three-quarters of fourth graders were found to be not proficient in reading, as the same share of eighth graders were not proficient in math.
Both of these statistics have worsened since 2019, when they were at 64 percent and 66 percent respectively.
In both cases, Maine students are performing worse than their peers in the Northeast and nationwide.
When these and other metrics, including on-time high school graduation rates and the share of children ages three and four that are not yet in school, Maine ranked 41st nationwide.
Maine and Mississippi were found to have the most significant degree of decline with respect to children’s health metrics over the past few years.
Based on factors such as the prevalence of low-birth-weight babies, the share of children and teens who are obese, and per-capita child and teen deaths, Maine ranked in the bottom half of the country, coming in 28th.
Maine did, however, see improvement in its comparative standing with respect to family and community, as well as economic well-being, coming in 6 and 12 respectively.
Factoring into the state’s economic well-being score were statistics such as the share of children living in households with a high housing cost burden and the number of children living in poverty.
By both of these measures, Maine children fare notably better than their counterparts in the Northeast and nationwide.
Maine also has a very low share of children living in high-poverty areas compared to other states in the Northeast and throughout the country.
There were also a significantly smaller share of children living in households where the head lacks a high school diploma, coming in at nearly half the rate nationwide.
Both of these figures factored into the state’s notable 6th place ranking for economic well-being.
Click Here to Read Maine’s Full Results from the 2026 Kids Count Data Book
I am not surprised — Maine schools simply are not what they were 40 years ago, and I say that with piece of paper that say, I know what I’m talking about.
Maine kids are much fatter than the rest of the country, so much for the chronic hunger claims constantly made in the state.
This is a problem with our teachers and the colleges that are supposed to be teaching them. Another failure caused by democrats
an embarrassment
ANOTHER embarrassment .
Kids are getting dumber, but the MEA is doing well.
At this time, homeschooling is the only way you can overcome the stranglehold that democrat/communists have on this state.
I’m a retired high school teacher of English. I taught at South Portland High School in the early seventies. It was a remarkable school. So was Portland High School, where I did my internship teaching. I still have a copy of its English department at that time. College students today would have a strong challenge with completing it successfully. Over the years, I’ve seen mostly decline, decline, decline. I taught in New Hampshire and saw this, too. The parental involvement ultimately always pressured teachers and administrators to lower standards, make things easier, and downplayed discipline as being of much importance. It’s no wonder, then, that Maine and other states are at the point where their electoral inclinations are to consider electing some of the people we currently see in the political arena. They are the intellectual dregs of the age. What good can come of this if people do not have competence and dedication to performance? What’s the inspiration?
“Traditional academic learning — like reading, writing, and math — should be a lower priority in Maine schools than social-emotional learning and programming on race and gender, Maine Department of Education Commissioner Pender Makin told lawmakers on Wednesday.” (Maine Wire, 2023) THIS is what should be causing Maine citizens to line our bridges in protest.
Portland and Lewiston’s large immigrant families may have contributed to some of the decline in reading ability.
Well Dah.. a dumb kid makes a good democrat. Wont be long now before they’re to stupid to get an ID.
The reality is that the Marxists/Communists that took over teacher’s unions decades ago see this not as a failure but a reason to celebrate. The teacher’s unions do not want educated students, they want activists who will support voting for “socialists”, support for boys in girls sports, national support for government paid abortions, defund the police, and the list goes on and on.
We have spent to much time and money on illegals, letting our American kids fall behind. This was done due to Bidens plan to get more Democratic votes.
Were where the BPD when an illegal was shot. Not much protection to the City of Biddeford.
Biddeford should be looking at their test scores, Why have they dropped so much?
Leadership?
You can’t spell “die” without D-E-I …. Clearly, woke indoctrination is more important to our teachers union leftists.
So, the progressive claim that Maine education lags due to poverty or economic disadvantages is false. What else could account for this steady decline in educational attainment in Maine? Hmmm…..
“Approximately three-quarters of fourth graders were found to be not proficient in reading, as the same share of eighth graders were not proficient in math.”
Your kids are dumb and why?
At Bideford’s meeting tonight maybe some of those outside troublemakers who will be there will tell you why.
Lisen to them they are running your town now.
If the BPD worked with the Feds a father would be alive now.
Joe Bidens open boarders, a democratic vote getting plan. And your town has the problem. Dumb Kids. higber taxes.
Why does this statistic not surprise anyone with a brain and who does not have time to waste on a street corner with dumbass signs? Come on, we are watching the slow and steady destruction of a once proud and stand up State. All due to political incompetence. Industry gone, hi tech not coming, good paying jobs elsewhere, kids leaving the State. Oldies moving in or stuck. Welfare rolls up, illegal immigrants doing nothing, contributing nothing, stealing and living fat of welfare. Just the facts, check them out. Educational unions lazy and pork barrel, care less and less about the kids. Bangor gone, LA a s…hole along with Portland. Tourists fro US staying away. Canadians not coming. Check out OOB, empty during the Quebec two week national holiday? Whats with that? So, what do we have to scream about? Oh yes, dumb ass, uneducated and inexperienced politicians throughout, doing nothing. Oh, and yers, the Dems will coronate a KING without any voter input next month. Another useless, dumbass, lying King. Kinda like Anguish??? A so it goes!!!
Maybe if we had a few more teacher lead Ice protests walkouts, we would be better off? Or, we could just throw more money at the problem that’s what we always do. Just a little more and things will turn around. Heven forbid someone suggest that teachers start teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, science, history (not that anti-American crap they have been pedaling for years). Oh, silly me, such an outdated concept.
The blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the teachers and the teachers unions! They prefer to reach our kids how to be a good communist than how to read!
Irish Girl
“THIS is what should be causing Maine citizens to line our bridges in protest.”
NOPE! We should be buying rope. Sadly for our children, there are a lot of people that need hanging and school administrators and teachers are lower on the list.
As our esteemed senate candidate so courageously and eloquently described we must stop the PORK BELLYING .You saw Maines top Democrats on stage do you expect the education system to be anything other than disgraceful.
Yeah, having wicked-cold winters makes it tough to be homeless.
Teaching math is racist. cursive writing is racist, reading classic books (like Tom Sawyer) is a no no because the authors were racist white people, Learning history is racist because it is written by white people….anyone wonder why education is dead? Anyone see a trend here?
This isn’t new. Back in the early 80s I had a young man working for me that had just graduated from a HS here in southern maine. He could not even spell words in *A*sentence correctly.
As a teacher of almost 40 years, I would have to say that (for me) the number one hindrance for achievement for my Math students between the early 1990’s to mid 2020’s is the severe decline in daily attendance.
As a Math and Computer Science teacher I love to keep stats and I can report that the average attendance for all my Math classes (both non-college bound and college prep) has been hovering around 36-38% absent daily for all my subjects and levels.
With this lack in continuity in their contact with their Math tracher and holes in their prerequisite knowledge, I find students struggle upon their return from prolonged or frequent absences to master and comprehend conceptual skills and topics.
Moreover, these missing chunks in knowledge cause increased stress and anxiety, which in many cases lead to more absences. I have incredibly smart students fail every year simply due to unacceptable absence rates and the resulting deficit skills.