Welcome to The Spear Center

The Deloris A. Spear Center for Excellence in Teaching (“The Spear Center”) aims to serve as the hub for educational innovation and professional learning in the Pacific Northwest.

Located within the International School of Portland’s campus in beautiful downtown Portland, Oregon, The Spear Center hosts workshops and conferences with world-renowned educators to support not only its own school faculty but those from the Portland area and beyond. The Spear Center provides opportunities for educators from ISP and outside to come together and share best practices in multicultural teaching, as well to develop a network of highly skilled professionals who are invested in immersion and inquiry-based education.

Established in 2019 with an endowed leadership gift by the Don and Ione Spear Family, The Spear Center honors the life of Deloris Ann Spear, a dedicated public-school teacher for over fifty years. Don and Ione, whose children attended the International School of Portland, founded The Center at the school because of its globally-minded program and dedication to collaborative, inquiry-based education. “To honor Deloris Spear’s dedication to teaching and the promotion of others, we are excited to support the International School of Portland through the creation of this Center,” says Don Spear, son of Deloris. “Teachers are learners too and the better they become at their profession, the better the school and the students become.  The better the students become, the better the world becomes.”

For more information about the Spear Center, join our mailing list or email Kelly Rogers, our Head of Professional Learning, at spearcenter@intlschool.org. You can also connect with us on social media. If you’re interested in partnering with us to lead a workshop, webinar, or other professional learning event, visit our Partner With Us page. Let’s connect!