The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Math. The lowest is 29% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Union Elementary
Union Elementary sits on Heald Highway in the small, rural town of Union, Maine, serving children from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as part of RSU 40/MSAD 40. The school is small for its grade band, with a class structure that keeps grade cohorts tight. The student body is predominantly white, reflecting the broader community composition, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not available, so those population details are left out here rather than estimated.
On Maine's Through Year Assessment, Union Elementary's math results stand out as a clear strength. A strong majority of tested students in grades three through eight reached proficiency or above, a mark that sits well above what many elementary schools in the state post. English language arts results were also solid, with most tested students meeting the proficiency bar. Participation was near full across both subjects, which gives these results real weight as a picture of how the school is doing. Science tells a different story. Only a handful of students were tested, and the proficiency rate was notably lower than the school's math and reading performance. With such a small tested group, the science result can swing sharply from year to year, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how science instruction is sequenced across the upper elementary grades and what supports are in place.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is hard to say whether these proficiency levels represent steady performance or a recent shift. The state did not report average scale scores, only proficiency rates, which limits how finely one can compare Union Elementary to peer schools. Still, the math and ELA results together suggest a school where core literacy and numeracy instruction is landing for most students.
The town of Union is a spread-out rural community in Knox County, organized around several villages: Union, East Union, North Union, and South Union. It retains an agricultural character rooted in its farming and water-powered milling history, and daily life here is car-dependent, with no public transit. The civic heart of town is Union Common, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and nearby anchors include the Vose Library, the Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage, and the town office. The annual Union Fair, run by the North Knox Agricultural and Horticultural Society, remains a major community gathering. No large private employers are documented in town, and residents generally commute to surrounding areas for work, with Union sitting between Rockland and Augusta.
The school itself shares its building with the RSU 40 district offices and Rivers Alternative Middle School on the second floor, which makes the campus a civic hub in its own right. Older students in Union move on to Medomak Valley Middle School and Medomak Valley High School, both located in nearby Waldoboro, roughly five miles away. That transition places secondary education on a separate campus outside the town center, something families should expect as their children approach the upper grades.
Housing in the 04862 zip code sits below the Maine state benchmark for typical home values, and recent year-over-year movement has been slightly downward. The estimated monthly mortgage cost, assuming a standard down payment at current rates, is within reach for households near the area's median income, which puts Union in a relatively affordable position compared with much of the state. Rental data was not available, so the rental picture here is left unaddressed. The town has seen slow but steady population growth over recent decades, and land-use regulation appears active but measured, with a recently amended land use ordinance and shoreland zoning maps maintained for its many waterways, including the Medomak and St. George Rivers. No major new housing developments or commercial projects surfaced in available sources, which fits the town's low-density, rural pattern.
The district brief for RSU 40/MSAD 40 turned up little in the way of publicly reported parent-relevant changes, so this account leaves that area alone rather than filling it with speculation. Union Elementary's profile, taken as a whole, is that of a small, community-rooted elementary school in a quiet rural town, with real academic strengths in math and reading, a science result worth asking about, and a housing market that remains relatively accessible for the region.
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