At Pueblo School for Arts & Sciences (PSAS), leaders Susan Flores and Maeghan Miller recognized the urgent need for change to address significant reading gaps among their students. Through intentional leadership, they prioritized evidence-based instruction, implemented SIPPS, and ensured teachers had the training and support needed to make a lasting impact.
We had the opportunity to speak with Susan and Maeghan about the leadership decisions that shaped their SIPPS implementation, the challenges they navigated, and the successes they’ve seen as a result.
Tell us a little more about both of you.
We have been in education for half a century! Throughout this time, we have been coaches in athletics, music, and instructional practices, administrators at both the building and district level, and instructional leaders.
Susan has several accolades and recognitions to her name, including Colorado’s National Assistant Principal of the Year for 2014–2015 and PSAS Administrator of the Year in 2021–2022, and she was heavily responsible for the PSAS Network being voted Pueblo’s Best of the Best for 2024.
Maeghan was awarded the Phi Delta Kappa Student Teacher of the Year for 2002 and has used her experiences and training in literacy, technology integration, and curriculum development to help others as an instructional coach for the last three years.
Susan currently serves as the PSAS Director of Education, and Maeghan the PSAS Assistant Director of Education.
Provide some background information about your school/district and the issues you saw your students struggling with.
The 2023 winter benchmark assessment data was nothing short of alarming. Some key concerns included attendance issues, behavior and mental health issues, and lost instructional time resulting in significant academic gaps: 79 percent of students were 2–3 years below grade level.
While this information is a broad view of all content areas, our first goal was to increase reading proficiency.
What brought you to consider SIPPS as an intervention for your students?
Susan had witnessed the positive results of SIPPS in another district, while Maeghan had used various editions while teaching.
We saw the direct correlation between the science of reading, five components, and the instructional model provided by the SIPPS program.
Word-of-mouth recommendations from those who had utilized the program were another contributing factor.
What do you appreciate about SIPPS? What do teachers appreciate about it?
SIPPS aligns with the idea of “a little bit every day.” Our teachers appreciate the routine and scaffolding of each level. The placement assessment is fairly accurate of abilities and places students in appropriate levels.
SIPPS aligns with the idea of ‘a little bit every day.’ Our teachers appreciate the routine and scaffolding of each level.
SIPPS also has online support in terms of instructional videos. The ancillary materials, such as Trace-and-Write materials, posters, as well as the teacher’s manuals, are clearly written and easy to follow.
Teachers were enthused with how easy the program was to implement while allowing for teaching autonomy in each lesson delivery.
What key ingredients or planning decisions set you up for success as you launched your implementation?
Teachers understood the urgency and embraced the idea of “If not now, when?” and “If not us, who?”
We had network-wide training prior to a schedule adjustment, and a schedule with daily dedicated times for SIPPS instruction.
You have had some strong growth. How do you collect data, and how is that used to drive your instructional decisions?
Spreadsheets. There was a triangulation of data from three different standardized tests, analysis of test taking, and progress monitoring of specific skills.
Data digs are routine, and professional learning communities discuss what is working or what needs to be adjusted for interventions.
Get SIPPS Sample Lessons
Download lessons, text excerpts, placement assessments, and the SIPPS brochure.
What have you noticed about students’ learning and engagement? What have teachers noticed?
Learning in general has changed significantly post-COVID. Not only do teachers have to deal with the learning losses that happened during the pandemic, they are competing with the immediate gratification of online games and social media, which make engagement and processing more difficult-paced and systematic instruction is necessary for any improvement now.
What kind of challenges have you encountered? How have you addressed those challenges?
Inexperience and retaining trained staff has been problematic. There is continuous professional development for a range of abilities in every program.
We have established an induction program for new staff which assists teachers with classroom management, pedagogy, child development, and best instructional practices.
In addition, we provide weekly coaching for all new staff and building administrators that draws attention to the importance of data analysis, emphasizing what to do with that information.
Also, inexperienced building administrators needed to be shown the importance of follow-through and implementation, while at times learning the hard way that switching strategies has negative consequences.
Tell us what you are most proud of as a successful team leading this change.
After implementing a new schedule with the dedicated time for the SIPPS program, we observed immediate improvements.
In five weeks, the teachers who implemented the program with fidelity observed cases of students who were making triple and quadruple growth in their fluency scores, higher-level vocabulary, and overall comprehension.
In five weeks, the teachers who implemented the program with fidelity observed cases of students who were making triple and quadruple growth in their fluency scores, higher-level vocabulary, and overall comprehension.
How has SIPPS shifted teaching practices and/or professional learning in your school/district?
Teachers have a better understanding of direct, explicit, systematic instructional strategies. They have seen how SIPPS fits with building reading foundations and extending vocabulary skills at an earlier level than originally expected.
What recommendations would you have for other leaders trying to implement this model?
- Full buy-in from all stakeholders
- Know your data, know your kids, know your staff’s abilities (strengths and weaknesses)
- Be transparent with the direction of the implementation
- Hold expectations while being available to support and guide as needed
- Invest in training to give the teachers the tools they need to be successful
- Just get started—the only wrong way to teach SIPPS is to not teach it at all
Download the Science of Reading Resource Guide
This 65-page guide for teachers and leaders contains articles, white papers, and interviews to drive collaborative conversations about the science of reading.
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