The top reported proficiency rate is 62% in English language arts. The lowest is 20% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Benton Elementary School
Benton Elementary School sits in a small, rural residential town in Kennebec County, part of the RSU 49/MSAD 49 district. The town spreads across roughly twenty-nine square miles at low density, with several villages clustered along the Sebasticook River. Historically agricultural, with dairy farms and sawmills shaping its early economy, Benton retains a quiet rural character. There is no distinct commercial downtown; civic functions and the school sit within the dispersed town fabric rather than a separated campus. Publicly reported sources note that Benton Falls historically served as the community hub, but today the town is largely auto-dependent, with no parks, library, or public transit identified in available sources.
The school serves grades one through six, with enrollment that is substantial for an elementary building in a town of this size. Grade levels are fairly evenly distributed. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with very small numbers of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. About half the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which gives a sense of the economic mix within the community. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here. A parent wanting detail on special education services or language support would need to ask the school directly.
State assessment results from the most recent school year paint a mixed academic picture. In English language arts, the proficiency rate sits comfortably above half, which is a solid result for an elementary school and suggests that literacy instruction is reaching a majority of students. Math proficiency is more middling, landing near the halfway mark, which indicates that a substantial portion of students are not yet meeting state standards in that subject. Science results are the clear soft spot, with only a small fraction of students demonstrating proficiency. This is a single-year snapshot with no trend data available, so it is hard to say whether these patterns are stable or shifting. Still, the science result is low enough that a parent may want to look into this further with the school, asking how science instruction is structured across the grade bands and what supports are in place. Participation rates across all three subjects were near full, which means the results reflect nearly the entire eligible student body rather than a skewed subset.
Because Benton Elementary ends at grade six, there is no graduation rate or high school program data to report. That gap simply reflects the grade band served. Similarly, no course access, staffing, discipline, or attendance data was provided, so the narrative cannot speak to class sizes, specialist availability, or school climate beyond what the assessment and demographic data imply.
The housing market in Benton is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the Maine statewide typical figure, and rents are similarly modest. The price-to-income ratio suggests that buying a home here is more attainable than in many parts of the state, and rent burdens a relatively small share of household income. The town is growing very slowly, with no major new housing developments or commercial projects identified in publicly reported sources. For a family considering a move, this means a stable, quiet setting without rapid transformation or the pressures that come with fast growth.
What Benton Elementary offers is a straightforward rural elementary pathway in a community where housing costs are manageable and the pace of life is slow. The literacy results are a genuine strength, math is middling, and science is an area that warrants attention. The student population is fairly homogeneous and the economic mix includes a meaningful share of families working with limited means. Families looking for specialized programs, magnet-style offerings, or a walkable town center will not find those here. What they will find is a community-rooted school in a rural town where the cost of living is low and the classroom environment reflects the character of the place.
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