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  • 4% of both Black and 5% of white
    children in Maine are uninsured.
    White children in Maine are 1
    percentage point more likely to
    be uninsured than are white
    children nationwide. Black
    children in Maine are uninsured
    at a rate consistent with the
    national average for Black
    children.
  • Youth Health Insurance
  • 30 of the 351 Census Tracts in
    Maine are considered to be in a
    food desert.
    This impacts 7.3%
    of white Mainers and 12.3% of
    Black Mainers. Approximately
    7.6% of children in Maine live in a
    food desert.
  • Food Access
  • The median home price in Maine
    is $290,602.
    This is 418% of the
    median household income for
    Mainers.
  • Affordable Housing
  • 11.7% of children in Maine live in
    poverty. This includes 10.9% of
    white children.
    Because white
    children experience poverty at a
    rate lower than the overall
    average, we can deduce that
    children of color experience
    poverty at higher rates than their
    white peers.
  • Child Poverty
  • Maine students scored an
    average of 274 on the NAEP 8th
    grade math exam, 11 points
    below the national average.
    The
    Black-white gap on the 8th grade
    reading exam was 32 points,
    above the national average of 24
    points.
  • NAEP Scores
  • The overall 4-year cohort graduation rate for Maine is 86%. For Black students, this rate is only 76%; for white students, 87%. The disparities in graduation rates may be traced to disparities in opportunities to learn.
  • Graduation Rates
  • Approximately 14% of Black high
    school graduates in 2021
    entered college in the Fall of that
    year.
    In comparison,
    approximately 18% of their white
    peers matriculated.
  • College Matriculation
  • Maine ranks 7th out of 50 states
    and Washington D.C. in terms of
    its per pupil funding level.
    Moreover, Maine spends more
    per student relative to its GDP
    than the national average. Thus,
    Maine’s level and effort of
    educational investment is better
    than average.
  • Per Pupil Spending
  • The average teacher salary for
    Maine is $59,964; however, the
    average starting teacher salary is
    only $41,163.
    Maine ranks 33rd
    in the nation for average teacher
    salary.
  • Teacher Salary
  • Approximately 62% of districts in
    Maine are regressive in their
    spending for Black students.
    This suggests that not all
    students benefit equally from the
    state’s investment in education.
  • Progressive Spending
  • 0% of districts in Maine have
    been identified as having
    significant disproportionality in
    their identification of students
    with disabilities.
    As such, none
    are required to commit 15% of
    their IDEA funds to remedying
    these disparities.
  • Remedial IDEA Spending

Maine Education Investment

  • Black students in Maine are
    removed from their learning
    environment at lower rates than
    their white peers.
    91 out of every
    10,000 Black students were
    suspended at least once in the
    2021-22 school year, compared
    to 126 out of every 10,000 white
    students.
  • Exclusionary Discipline
  • Black students were bullied on
    the basis of race at nearly twenty
    times the rate of their white
    peers (20 incidents per 10,000
    Black students and 1 incidents
    per 10,000 white students were
    reported).
  • Bullying
  • School psychologists in Maine
    serve approximately 1,487
    students, on average.
    However,
    school counselors serve an
    average of only 278 students;
    school social workers, 404
    students.
  • School Psychologists
  • Schools in Maine have, on
    average, one sworn law
    enforcement officer for every
    1,573 students and one security
    guard for every 22,287 students.
  • School Police
  • 97.65% of teachers teaching in
    Maine are certified.
    Overall, the
    student to teacher ratio in Maine
    is 11:1.
  • Access to Teachers
  • While 5.0% of white students in
    Maine receive the benefits of
    enrichment in Gifted and
    Talented courses, only 1.6% of
    Black students benefit from this
    enrichment. While 4.4% of white
    students participate in AP
    courses, only 2.9% of Black
    Maine students are enrolled in
    these same courses.
  • Challenging Curriculum
  • Maine’s rates of identification for
    Special Education are robust.
    Nonetheless, Black students are
    identified at a lower rate (19.1%)
    than are their white peers
    (24.2%). This suggests perhaps
    not all Black students are
    receiving the supports they
    deserve.
  • Special Education

Maine

Maine Community Context

Maine Student Achievement

Maine Student Experience

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Out-of-school Factors

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