Maine, which once sat on the leaderboard for national, standardized test performance, now hovers at or below the national average on critical topics such as math and reading.
This fall, Maine Monitor reporting and analysis of test score data revealed details about why this could be the case: Vulnerable students are falling the furthest in test scores, and comprehensive efforts to address overall student performance are difficult to get off the ground given the many underlying issues affecting test score performance.
The standardized test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or the Nation’s Report Card, assesses representative samples of students in fourth and eighth grade in topics such as math and reading across the country every few years.
In recent years, NAEP results have sparked concern that some states — such as Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire — that were once high performers are continuing downward trends in performance.
Below are five takeaways from our reporting on test scores.
Low-income students and students with disabilities are falling the fastest.
A Maine Monitor analysis of NAEP data showed that low-income students and students with disabilities saw the largest drops between 2007 and 2024:
- The percentage of students with disabilities who scored at or above a basic level — meaning children demonstrated at least a bare minimum understanding of reading and math — fell by more than 32 percent.
- Low-income students meeting that same level dropped 23 percent.
For comparison, all Maine students who took the national test and reached a basic score on reading and math tests fell more than 14 percent. Check out a full breakdown of the data.
Declines in test scores started before the COVID-19 pandemic.
While sharp declines in student performance were documented during the pandemic, national standardized test results had already started a downward trajectory in the years prior.
The last peak in scores that all Maine students achieved on reading and math happened between 2013 and 2015, depending on the grade and subject. During this period, between 71 and 88 percent of all Maine students who took the test performed at a bare-minimum level and above.
In the following testing years — 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2024 — the number of students testing at this same level decreased.
Now, between 56 and 73 percent of students in Maine, depending on their grade and subject, perform at the same bare-minimum level on math and reading, according to 2024 results.
Other students appear to be struggling significantly, but data is missing.
Black and English language learning students have also displayed concerning trends in test scores.
Data collection for both these groups, however, has been inconsistent over the years because reporting requirements were not met. This means the number of students who took the tests was too small to be used in the data collection process.
In the years when reporting requirements were met, small fractions of Black and English language learning students scored at or above a basic level.
For instance, only 25 percent of Black fourth grade students scored at or above a basic level for reading on the national test in 2024. For the same subject in eighth grade, only 38 percent of Black students met the same standard in 2022, the most recent year data are available.
Factoring in state test scores is tricky.
Data from the Maine state standardized test — different from the national test — also indicates that student performance has gotten worse over time.
However, the Maine Department of Education advised against comparing Maine’s state test — the Maine Through Year Assessment — results year over year because the state test has changed frequently, making results not quite comparable.
It’s also tricky to compare the statewide test and the national test results.
The education agency told The Monitor that, while some states may structure their curriculums to align with the national assessment, Maine does not. Instead, the Maine state test aligns with Maine’s student achievement standards.
Reasons for testing declines vary.
There is no single issue that education experts can point to as the reason for test score declines, according to the various teachers, education leaders, lawmakers, researchers and parents that The Monitor spoke with.
Here are just some of the many issues that they pinpointed:
- Rising absenteeism
- Smart devices in the classroom
- A rise in poverty in some locations
- Workforce shortages in education
- Students receive a lower number of hours of instruction, on average, in the classroom compared with other states
- Ineffective materials used to teach reading and math
- School funding challenges
Some experts have also pointed to a lack of accountability measures as a factor in poor performance on tests.
The No Child Left Behind Act, for instance, was replaced in the 2010s. The policy, which was controversial because it penalized schools who did not perform well, pushed schools to close performance gaps among marginalized students.
