The Maine Department of Education (Maine DOE) data priorities have been crafted to use the Pre-K-12 data available to support the department-wide vision, mission, and strategic goals. The Maine DOE aligns data priorities with the U.S. Department of Education where possible. This includes using the Common Education Data Standards and the noted goals of strengthening data governance, developing the capacity to leverage data, making data-driven decisions, and improving data access and transparency while safeguarding data privacy.
The department strives to balance the need for data quality and data integrity with the resources needed to collect this data, thus the department only collects data points needed to comply with state and federal requirements using existing data collections. For data points outside of the normal collection process, the department adheres to the Maine DOE Survey Policy found on the Data Policies page.
The Department is committed to supporting research agendas in the following areas:
- Education Innovation
- Equity of Opportunity
- Life Learner Outcomes
- Educator Workforce
These focus areas will allow policymakers and other stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding the future of education in Maine. The Maine DOE is committed to creating a Pre-School-20 Workforce (P20W+) Longitudinal Data System (LDS) to further enhance data-driven decision-making across the sectors of early childhood, K-12, postsecondary, career training, and workforce education. The P20W+ LDS will allow for thought-provoking questions to be answered, innovative connections to be found, and education opportunities to be visualized.