PINE STATE
LEARNING

Our "Big WHY"

We think teaching children how to read, write, and do math is the best job. That moment it clicks for our students never gets old.

Our why

There is a moment that never gets old. It is when a parent calls to say their kid read a street sign on their own for the first time. Or did mental math without counting on their fingers. Or picked up a book on their own, did their writing homework without drama, or ran into the school without any hesitation. We still get goosebumps.

The point is to make that moment happen for kids who haven't gotten there yet but should have.

Lisa Murphy, M.Ed.

Founder and Executive Director

Lisa is a certified special educator in the state of Maine (282 certification: Teacher of Students with Disabilities). She has a background in philosophy and came to reading instruction through a genuine curiosity about how people learn. She built and ran the Intensive Reading Program at the Aucocisco School in Cape Elizabeth before starting Pine State Learning.

Over the years she has worked with hundreds of students and trained the team that runs Pine State today. Parents often say talking to her is the first time anyone has explained what is going on with their child: not in jargon, just clearly.

She still oversees all instruction at Pine State and takes students herself. She started this practice because she thought there was a better way to do this work. There was.

Who we are

The Pine State Learning team seated on a log among pine trees

Elizabeth Richards

Admissions and Tutoring

Elizabeth is often the first person families talk to at Pine State. She has worked with children from infancy through school age and is good at making kids feel comfortable early on, which matters a lot in the first few sessions.

Kathryn Callahan

Tutoring, HR and Accounts

Kathryn has been with Pine State for almost five years and handles tutoring, HR, and accounts payable, which tells you everything about her range. She has a gift for finding connection and fun with the students who resist it most.

Sophie Hubbert-Severence

Instructional Supervision and Direct Instruction

Sophie oversees instruction across the whole practice and is trained in multiple structured literacy methods, including Seeing Stars®. She also reads prolifically, climbs rocks, and tends a garden. Her cat is named Rue.

Hayls Maness

Reading and Math Tutor

Hayls brings creativity into everything she does: she makes art, spends time outdoors, and has a particular talent for reaching students who have not responded to more conventional approaches.

Kierston Foley

Math Supervisor and Reading Tutor

Kier loves working directly with kids! She specializes in both math and reading, and when a student finally breaks through something, she is the one jumping around the room!

Lalla Carothers

Tutor

Lalla has taught English to adults, high schoolers, and everyone in between. She is genuinely skilled at meeting people where they are, which might be the single most important thing in this work.

Erika Mazuzan

Tutor

Erika brings a calm, steady presence to her sessions that students who have struggled in other settings tend to respond to quickly. She lives in Cumberland with her family and their dog, Tinsel.

Danielle Clark, M.Ed.

Summer Center Supervisor and Tutor

Danielle has worked alongside Lisa for 10 years, going back to the Aucocisco days. She is also a 7th grade language arts teacher in Windham, holds a Master of Education, and once played basketball professionally in Europe. She has a rescue dog named Jack.

Suzanne McCormack, M.Ed.

Tutor

Suzanne has been with us at Pine State Learning for almost two years. As a classroom teacher, she has taught students in Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten as well as grades four and five. She loves spending time with her adult daughters, Maeve and Grace, walking their dogs and enjoying all the wonderful outdoor adventures Maine has to offer.

Questions about the team

What are Lisa Murphy's qualifications?

Lisa is a certified special educator in the state of Maine, holding a 282 certification (Teacher of Students with Disabilities). She holds a Master's in Education and Curriculum Design and spent years running the Intensive Reading Program at the Aucocisco School in Cape Elizabeth before founding Pine State Learning. She is trained in multiple structured literacy methods including Lindamood-Bell Seeing Stars®, LiPS®, On Cloud Nine®, Visualizing and Verbalizing®, and Orton-Gillingham. She has assessed and taught hundreds of students with learning differences, and still takes students herself. She designed the approach the entire PSL team uses.

What training do PSL tutors have?

Every PSL tutor is trained in structured literacy principles and at least one research-validated intervention program, including Orton-Gillingham, Lindamood-Bell LiPS®, Seeing Stars®, Morningside fluency methods, and On Cloud Nine® for math. Tutors do not just complete a certification and stop; they train alongside Lisa and the instructional supervisors and receive ongoing coaching.

How do you match a child with a tutor?

Before any tutoring begins, we build a picture of your child: their skill profile, their personality, what shuts them down and what lights them up. We match based on both. A tutor who is technically excellent but cannot make a resistant 10-year-old laugh is the wrong tutor for that child. We take the relationship part as seriously as the credentials.

Do you work with children who have been unsuccessful with other tutors?

Many of our students come to us after tutoring that did not work: a tutor who was not trained for learning differences, a program that did not fit, or a year of sessions that produced modest gains but did not close the gap. We are specifically built for those students, and that is where we do our best work.

What does a typical PSL tutoring session look like?

Sessions are structured, fast-paced, and built around what that child needs that week, not a script. A session might include phonological work, orthographic pattern practice, fluency exercises, and applied reading or spelling, with the ratio and focus shifting based on what is happening with the student. Sessions are designed to be engaging: affective state measurably influences learning outcomes, and a student who dreads instruction does not retain it.

Our office

14 Middle St.
Office 1
Brunswick, ME 04011

Where we work

●Brunswick office

●Falmouth Public Library

●Friends School of Portland

●Cheverus High School, Portland

●Online, around the world

Start with a free 15-minute consultation.

A quick conversation helps us hear your concerns and guide you to the next steps. We will get you set up to start tutoring, an independent academic evaluation, or a home learning kit, or send you to the professionals who can help if we cannot.

Book a free 15-minute consult

207.426.4267 lisa.murphy@pinestatelearning.com

Our Commitment to Equity

We are committed to working against the way that racial and socioeconomic privilege manifests itself in the identification and remediation of learning disabilities.

We do what we can by offering need based scholarships, doing pro-bono consultation for families with economic needs, providing services in some of Maine's lowest resource schools, and working with educational advocates on the toughest cases to help ALL students get what they need.