Kelly Keenan, Assistant Principal at Ginther Primary School, and Brandon Broughton, Director of Learning and Staff Development at Brockport Central School District, share how the comprehensive ELA curriculum, Collaborative Literacy, and the accelerative foundational skills program, SIPPS, are helping the district embrace the science of reading.
Tell us a little about yourselves, Brockport Central School District, and the students that you serve.
Kelly: I have worked at Brockport Central since 2000. I started in Special Education at the Hill School (grades 4 and 5) and moved into Instructional Coaching after 14 years in the classroom. The coaching position brought me to the primary school (Ginther) where I later moved into the position of assistant principal.
Brockport Central School District is located on the Erie Canal in suburban Rochester, NY. The district serves 30,000 residents over 72 square miles.
Our campus includes five schools (three elementary, one middle, and one high school) and is right next to The College at Brockport. There are about 3,200 students in Brockport Central School District spread across the five schools.
Brandon: I have spent 22 years in Brockport as a teacher, principal, and district administrator. I started my career as a grades 4 and 5 teacher before moving into administration.
What is the most rewarding part of being an educator for you?
Brandon: For me it has always been about giving students the opportunity to develop the skills they need and empowering them with the tools necessary for a happy and successful life.
This has remained true in my time as a teacher, building administrator, and district leader. The way I go about it just looks different in the various roles I’ve held.
Kelly: There are so many rewards! In the classroom I always enjoyed seeing students learn something new for the first time.
As a special educator, it was so exciting when something was finally mastered by my students. I love the challenge of finding ways to support students in their various learning styles and needs.
Working at the primary level is such a joy! Children learn how to be students and accomplish so much in those first few years in education. At the primary levels we see exponential growth in students both academically but also in social and emotional ways.
How long has Brockport Central School District been implementing Collaborative Literacy and SIPPS? Tell us a little about the implementation.
Kelly and Brandon: Ginther School did an ELA resource pilot in 2021–22 with Collaborative Literacy being one of those resources piloted by two kindergarten and two grade 1 classrooms.
We adopted the program fully for grades K–1 for the 2022–23 school year and completed our first year of implementation.
We utilized the SIPPS program during the pilot and in 2022–23 during full implementation. Our pilot teachers were tremendously impressed with SIPPS. We felt it aligned with the instructional shifts we were making to better align our practices with the science of reading.
The professional development we received throughout the pilot and first year of implementation was a strength of our partnership.
The professional development we received throughout the pilot and first year of implementation was a strength of our partnership. The implementation and professional learning plan we developed with Collaborative Literacy set us up to provide timely support to our teachers throughout implementation.
We leaned heavily on our pilot teachers for recommendations that would help ensure our larger roll-out would go smoothly.
We also dedicated a great deal of our collaborative time to grade-level teams working through implementation considerations and adjustments to our initial curricular documents to reflect the reality of large-scale implementation.
Share with me some of the successes you have seen in your reading data.
Kelly and Brandon: Collaborative Literacy has fit so nicely into our mission to embrace the science of reading.
Right from the beginning our pilot teachers noticed connections to what they were simultaneously learning in their LETRS training. Our data from our pilot was very hopeful, and this past year we have seen many successes!
Collaborative Literacy has fit so nicely into our mission to embrace the science of reading. Right from the beginning our pilot teachers noticed connections to what they were simultaneously learning in their LETRS training.
First, students in kindergarten increased approximately 3.96 words and grade 1 students increased 2.78 words, as compared to our EOY 2022 data.
We saw increases in capital letter identification and lowercase letter identification. For example, our kindergarten students were proficient at 93 percent and 91 percent for capital letters and lowercase letters, respectively.
Similarly, our grade 1 students were proficient at 93 percent for letter sounds whereas in the previous year we had proficiency at 85 percent.
Teachers have mentioned several times that the discourse that is taught throughout Collaborative Literacy is something that has been transformative in their teaching.
Anecdotally, teachers have shared that students’ confidence when attacking unfamiliar words is much higher than in the past.
Teachers have also shared that Being a Writer, the writing program within Collaborative Literacy, is very developmentally appropriate. Students are more equipped to develop ideas and can talk about their writing in ways they have never done before.
Finally teachers have mentioned several times that the discourse that is taught throughout Collaborative Literacy is something that has been transformative in their teaching. This program teaches students important lessons about being readers, writers, listeners, and speakers.
What impact has professional learning in Collaborative Literacy and SIPPS had on your teachers and students?
Kelly and Brandon: The professional learning plan we set up with Collaborative Literacy was very thoughtfully developed to layer on elements of the program in a timely and digestible manner.
We were able to sequence our professional development to keep building capacity with our staff to implement the different aspects of the program and understand the most important considerations when setting up your classroom routines.
Teachers have also shared that Being a Writer, the writing program within Collaborative Literacy, is very developmentally appropriate. Students are more equipped to develop ideas and can talk about their writing in ways they have never done before.
The writing instruction of Being a Writer is one of the greatest strengths of Collaborative Literacy. We’ve found it really beneficial to our students’ ability to write within different genres. Our Tier 1 instruction has improved through using the program. I think holistically we’re producing better writing pieces across the grade levels using Collaborative Literacy.
What thoughts or insights would you share with a school or district that is considering Collaborative Literacy and SIPPS?
Kelly and Brandon: Spend a significant amount of time with your leadership team and teacher leaders understanding the philosophy and instructional routines that the Collaborative Literacy program is grounded in. This helps you to understand the routines, book sets, connections with SIPPS, and writing routines.
The writing framework is wonderful and one of the best aspects of the program so plan to emphasize this aspect of instruction during your implementation!
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Hear from other New York educators:
Fueling Literacy Growth: Williamson Elementary Succeeds with Collaborative Literacy and SIPPS
Newark Central School District’s Improvement Journey with Collaborative Literacy and SIPPS
Learn more about SIPPS.
Learn more about Collaborative Literacy and the writing program within it, Being a Writer.