Many statewide education initiatives stop at vision documents. Recently, the State of Maine set out to go further. A team at the Maine Department of Education, “What would it look like to build a coherent statewide system that actually helps educators translate literacy and numeracy priorities into classroom practice?”
Over the past several years, the Maine Department of Education has developed statewide Literacy and Numeracy Action Plans designed not simply as policy documents but as long-term strategic roadmaps for improving teaching and learning across the state.
Now, Maine is taking the next step with the launch of companion Literacy and Numeracy Playbooks intended to help educators move from vision to implementation.
Together, the action plans and playbooks represent a broader statewide effort to create greater coherence across instructional priorities, professional learning, leadership support and classroom practice.
Building With the Field, Not Just for the Field
One of the defining features of Maine’s approach has been the intentional inclusion of educator voice throughout the development process.
The department established Literacy and Numeracy Advisory Councils to provide practitioner perspective and field-based feedback throughout the work. In addition, the department built multiple months of statewide feedback loops directly into the development of the playbooks.
Across the literacy and numeracy initiatives, the department received more than 5,000 pieces of feedback through surveys, professional learning opportunities, advisory structures, collaborative sessions and implementation conversations. Feedback came from educators and partners representing a wide range of educational contexts across Maine, including rural and urban communities, elementary and secondary schools, special education, multilingual learner programming, career and technical education, higher education, and administration
Throughout multiple rounds of revision and refinement, the playbooks evolved in response to ongoing feedback regarding clarity, usability, implementation needs and classroom relevance, helping ensure that the final resources reflected not only statewide priorities and research, but also the lived experience of educators working in diverse school and community contexts.
The work also involved extensive cross-office collaboration within the department as well as partnership across K–12 and higher education systems.
Professional learning connected to the action plans and playbooks has emphasized sustained support, interdisciplinary collaboration and practical classroom application rather than one-time training events.
Early feedback from educators has been encouraging. Participants consistently report increased confidence in implementing evidence-based practices, stronger understanding of interdisciplinary literacy and numeracy instruction, and appreciation for practical, classroom-ready resources that can be adapted locally.
Educators have also highlighted the value of seeing literacy and numeracy framed not as competing initiatives, but as interconnected foundations for learning, engagement and future readiness, ultimately leading to better outcomes for schools and students.
Building Beyond Compliance
Rather than creating top-down mandates or isolated initiatives, the department focused on building a connected system of support grounded in educator experience, interdisciplinary learning, evidence-based practice and local flexibility.
The action plans emphasize:
- Evidence-based instruction,
- Interdisciplinary learning,
- Student engagement and relevance,
- Equity and access,
- Professional learning,
- Family and community partnership,
- Real-world application of learning.
Importantly, the action plans were never intended to function as compliance tools. Instead, they were designed to help schools and educators build meaningful, locally responsive systems that support strong literacy and numeracy learning for all students.
Turning Statewide Vision Into Classroom Practice
As implementation work of action plans began, educators consistently identified a common challenge familiar to many states: translating broad statewide priorities into day-to-day instructional practice. In response, Maine developed the companion Literacy and Numeracy Playbooks designed to serve as living implementation tools rather than static guidance documents.
The playbooks connect statewide priorities directly to:
- Classroom instruction,
- Interdisciplinary teaching,
- Leadership planning,
- Professional learning,
- Reflection and implementation supports,
- Practical instructional examples.
The final playbooks were intentionally developed as interactive tools designed for usability and ongoing navigation. Educators can move fluidly between instructional strategies, implementation guidance, interdisciplinary examples, and embedded resources based on their own local needs and contexts.
Rather than reinforcing traditional academic silos, the playbooks position literacy and numeracy as foundational skills that support learning across the educational experience.
The Numeracy Playbook highlights connections across science, social studies, career and technical education, financial literacy and real-world problem-solving. Similarly, the Literacy Playbook emphasizes literacy development through inquiry, communication, critical thinking, civic engagement and authentic learning experiences across disciplines.
The result is a framework that encourages educators to see literacy and numeracy not as isolated initiatives, but as shared responsibilities across classrooms, schools and communities.
Rooting the Statewide Launch in Partnership
The statewide launch of the Literacy and Numeracy Playbooks, hosted in partnership with the University of Maine, represents an important milestone in the work.
The launch brought together educators, state leaders, higher education partners and practitioners from across Maine, including participation by University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, reflecting a shared commitment to strengthening literacy and numeracy learning across the pre-K through workforce continuum.
More importantly, the launch signals that this work is not finished. The action plans and playbooks are intended to continue evolving alongside educator feedback, implementation learning, and the changing needs of students and schools. When statewide improvement efforts build coherent systems alongside educators, the resources can help them turn vision into practice.
