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A Maine educator has been named executive director for a collaboration working to improve teaching and learning at schools throughout Penobscot County.
The Penobscot River Educational Partnership: A Professional Development Network has named Owen P. Maurais as its new leader.
Maurais has been involved in PREP since its beginnings in 1996, when, as administrators of schools in Old Town, he served on a board of superintendents who had formed a partnership to share and develop resources to address common educational needs. About the same time, the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development was redesigning its teacher preparation program in partnership with some of the same area schools. The two groups officially merged in 1999 to become PREP.
Maurais said he hopes the collaboration will become a statewide model. Unlike other partnerships in the state, such as the Southern Maine Partnership and the Western Maine Partnership, PREP is the only one collaborating with the University of Maine.
“The university provides the majority of graduate degrees within the university system. We are fortunate to have access to both graduate and undergraduate programs and their professors,” Maurais said.
Members of PREP are Brewer, Bucksport, Union 90 (Alton, Bradley, Greenbush, Milford); Indian Island, Union 91 (Orrington/Orland); SAD 22 (Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport); Union 87 (Orono, Veazie); and Bangor, all of which are public schools. Also included in the network is the United Technologies Center in Bangor.
Maurais graduated from UMaine with a B.S. in education, a master’s degree in special education, a certificate of advanced study in educational administration, and a master’s in business from Husson College. He started his career as a special education teacher in Van Buren in 1972 and came to Old Town in 1974, where he served as director of special education from 1979-1985. He recently retired as superintendent of Old Town schools, a position he has held since 1995.
As the new director, Maurais said he hopes to assist the university and member schools in meeting goals and forming a strategic plan, looking at issues such as student assessment, staff development, and providing opportunities for the university to work closely with school systems in regards to teacher preparation. He said his immediate plan is to meet with all area superintendents and curriculum coordinators in order to understand the needs of all the school systems regarding school improvement initiatives. He said he also plans to review activities in place for this year concerning student assessment and staff development and to help develop plans for upcoming years.
As far as MEA results, Maurais said the scores are only one tool for determining students’ abilities.
“It is really important for all children to leave school with good skills, and the challenge is to work with the state and local school in terms of developing assessments of what children know and what they need to learn,” he said. “The MEA is an important measure of a student’s achievement, but only one measure. Additional measures must also be in place in order to provide an accurate assessment of a students’ abilities.”
Maurais said one of the biggest challenges he expects to face is having to meet various educational goals with a limited amount of time.
“One of [the challenges] is finding time for school staff to do all the work that needs to be done. The issue of [the Maine] Learning Results, improving curriculums and student achievement levels requires staff time to plan and develop new opportunities for students,” he said.
“The College of Education is committed to reaching out to public schools and making opportunities possible for students of the university to become very successful teachers. I look forward to the opportunity to help the university and the public schools to continue to provide productive experiences for university students,” Maurais said.
