All posts by Kathreen Harrison

Kathreen Harrison

About Kathreen Harrison

Kathreen Harrison is a public school teacher in Maine. She has a master’s degree from Bank Street College of Education and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College. She has worked in a variety of schools in New York and Maine in a number of capacities – French teacher, gifted and talented teacher, elementary school teacher, and curriculum coordinator for island schools. She has lived in Maine for 20 years and has a particular interest in school reform.

Maine’s new economy depends on education innovators

On June 30 a group of 150 educators and innovators gathered at Bowdoin College for a day-long discussion of ‘the critical role of education innovators in supporting a new economy in Maine’. The gathering was convened by Alan Caron of the non-profit Envision Maine, with sponsorship or partnership from twelve organizations, including Maine Community Foundation, […]

Prioritizing education = equitable, adequate schools

I read with dismay Jake Bleiberg’s June 24th story in the Bangor Daily News about the poor condition of four of Portland’s elementary schools – Presumpscot, Longfellow, Reiche and Lyseth – and about unsuccessful efforts dating back two decades to have the schools renovated. The article describes some serious problems – no space for Special […]

Vote today for the legislator who will fight for equitable education in Maine

Today is election day in Maine. When you vote – as I urge you to do – choose the candidate who understands the importance of fighting to create an equitable, outstanding education system for all Mainers. Our economy and the health of our state depend on a universally well-educated electorate. We should not continue to […]

Maine’s first public language immersion program

I spent the morning of May 4th at Lyseth Elementary School in Portland to see Maine’s first public language immersion program in action. I came away immensely impressed. I observed a math class where students in first grade were communicating enthusiastically about geometry in Spanish; I watched a kindergarten class where students were happily talking […]

For the health of our state we need to turn the page on cultural insensitivity

The insensitivity toward cultures other than his own demonstrated by Governor Le Page’s February 11th ‘joke’ at the expense of a Chinese man and name perfectly illustrates the need for more World Language and Global Education in Maine. To begin with, in an era when the demographics and economy of the state are changing, and […]

Guide to a cheaper fix for schools

Roland Barth, leading writer on education, suggests that a key ingredient to improving schools is regular, school-focused, honest, mutually respectful conversation between the adults who work in them. Compared to the millions we have spent in this country in the past decade on much more complicated ‘fixes’ (and that have seen dubious success -and that’s […]

Maine’s graduates need to be able to compete on the world stage

Apparently many school districts in Maine are urging that the state drop the World Language graduation requirement of Maine’s LD1422, An Act To Prepare Maine People for the Future Economy, because of the cost of implementation. I believe it is important that we both keep and strengthen this graduation requirement. In a world where the norm among […]

Choosing the path to greater student achievement in Maine

The performance of Maine students on the Smarter Balanced test administered in all schools last spring was mediocre at best in relation to the twelve other states that have released scores at this point. Bangor Daily news reporter Matthew Stone rightly wonders if Mainers should be concerned about this result. I think we should be very […]