Ruth Kermish, Ph.D., is executive director of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA). Cheryl Tobey is a STEM specialist. Together, they bring expertise in STEM education and collaboratively more than 50 years of experience in math education and educator support.

We have all heard about declining math scores across the country and right here in Maine. We know things need to change. The real question is how. Members of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) have asked ourselves — and the educators and administrators we work with every day — that question for years.

Effective improvement in math literacy demands collective focus, strong vision and practical support. MMSA is proud to stand alongside the Maine Department of Education (DOE) in embracing the state’s renewed emphasis on numeracy. Their Maine State Numeracy Action Plan highlights eight research-based priorities to improve math learning in Maine. Based on MMSA’s 30 years of experience in math professional development for educators, we vehemently agree that investing in these priorities across K-12 will make a difference for our students.

We know every child can develop the confidence, understanding and joy that lead to true mathematical proficiency. With shared purpose and aligned resources, Maine can move from concern to confidence. MMSA is ready to support educators, families and policymakers on this journey.

MMSA’s key commitments include:

• Strengthen early numeracy through visual and strategic understanding. MMSA partners with teachers to help students develop flexible, fluent thinking with numbers, beyond memorization, through visual models, strategy-based games and reasoning.
• Facilitate high-impact professional learning and collaboration. We work hand-in-hand with school leaders, instructional coaches and teachers to help districts build sustainable, equity-focused math strategies. 
• Champion numeracy confidence. We share the DOE’s belief that math identity begins with mindset. We must reject “I’m not a math person,” and instead foster confidence and curiosity at home, in classrooms and across communities.
• Engage families and communities. MMSA creates “Math Around Us” resources for families to notice math in everyday places, strengthening skills through play and real-world contexts and provides coaching and resources for afterschool educators through the ACRES project.
• Launch interdisciplinary, real-world resources. In collaboration with educators, we’ll continue designing classroom resources to support pre-K–5 teachers in bringing math outdoors through hands-on exploration, engaging middle schoolers in real-world data on energy use, cost and impact, and developing resources that integrate computational thinking and math.

The Ames School in Searsmont worked with MMSA for five years to help every student build math confidence and understanding. Even though Ames students performed above state standards, staff continued to find ways to reach all learners, including students with identified disabilities. Last year, 38% of these students met the state standard in math, compared to the 18.8% state average. This year, 50% met the standard. Ames demonstrates what happens when educators have access to high-impact professional learning and collaboration time.

In Maine, we are not where we want to be in math education. Yet, all the right levers — partners, resources, research and Maine’s entrepreneurial spirit — are being pulled to create a comeback story. 

In addition to the ongoing commitments, MMSA is scaling early numeracy professional learning with the DOE to help pre-K-2 educators engage students through guided play, outdoor learning, and community partnerships through the Building Strong Foundations initiative. We’ll also continue to design and share high-quality math resources developed with Maine educators and invite schools and districts to collaborate on system-wide strategies that strengthen numeracy and integrate it within broader STEM learning goals.

These efforts alone are not enough. Maine needs large-scale investment in math education. No fancy tools or specialized curricula, just support, professional development and access to research-based strategies that make sense for classrooms and communities.

The Maine State Numeracy Plan is a great start, but it is just the beginning of a new era in math learning: one grounded in the science of how kids learn, rooted in community topics that matter and integrated across the curriculum.