Our Coaches

Pamela Kling Peroutky, Manager of Professional Development, has been in education for nearly 30 years. She taught in elementary and middle school classrooms, and served as a school principal and an assistant superintendent responsible for curriculum, assessment, and professional development. Pam received a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Loyola University Chicago, where her research focused on the characteristics of effective professional development and its impact on teachers’ instructional practices. As an educational consultant, she has provided professional learning opportunities in a variety of curricular areas, including literacy, assessment, models of teaching, and effective mentoring techniques.

Alicia Sparks, Professional Development Manager, is a reading consultant. For more than 30 years she has been teaching children to read in settings that include regular and special education, private and public schools, and individual tutoring. She has also worked with teachers and administrators to improve the reading ability of students. Alicia is a certified regional trainer of LETRS (the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling professional development program), and she has advanced training in the Orton-Gillingham instructional approach. She has been a guest lecturer at college courses and has presented locally, regionally, and nationally at preschools, training centers, and school districts. She completed her master’s degree in special education at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ann Buis, Regional Coach, has worked in education for 40 years. A former principal and first-grade teacher in public and independent schools, Ann has most recently worked as the lower school division head of Fort Worth Country Day School in Texas. During her career, she has presented a variety of programs for parents, created professional development seminars, directed workshops for beginning teachers, and taught students in and out of the classroom. Ann received her master’s degree from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Jane Vallin, Regional Coach, has been in elementary education for 33 years, with experience as a classroom teacher and media specialist. She has presented technology workshops and early literacy workshops for teachers, administrators, and reading specialists, and she has written curricula for D.C. Heath and Company, now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Jane has also served as an adjunct professor at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. She received a master’s degree in instructional leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Suzanne Webb, Regional Coach, has been in elementary education for 28 years, and during that time taught the kindergarten levels of the Superkids Reading Program for more than two decades. She received her undergraduate degree in education with a reading concentration from the University of Texas and her master’s degree with an early childhood concentration from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Suzanne has completed training in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme and developed and implemented IB curricula for kindergarten students. She has been a recipient of the Fund for Teachers summer fellowship grant, which allowed her to travel to Ireland for curriculum research.

Nancy Alfonso has more than three decades of experience in elementary education. For 25 years, she was an elementary school teacher in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District in Pennsylvania, where she taught reading to over 350 students. She has presented literacy topics and reading research to educators at local, state, and regional conferences. Nancy earned a master’s degree in elementary education at Marywood University in Scranton and has completed more than 60 credits of postgraduate coursework in educational methods and technology use in the classroom.

Karen Babbitt has worked as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, teacher mentor, reading coach, and interventionist in public, private, and parochial schools for more than 25 years in the New Orleans area. As an educational consultant, she developed and presented workshops at local, state, and regional conferences on literacy topics. Karen received her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and her master’s degree at the University of New Orleans, where she has been an adjunct instructor teaching literacy courses to graduate and undergraduate students.

Annette Balcom received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and speech pathology from Washington State University. For 32 years, she worked as a classroom teacher and an elementary reading specialist with a focus on primary grades and systematic phonics instruction. Annette facilitated the reading adoption for the fourth-largest district in the state of Washington, and she was appointed to the state’s reading leadership team, which helped teachers become proficient with the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. For more than 20 years, Annette has taught phonics classes to teachers, emphasizing games and activities that make learning fun.

Michelle Bergman has worked in education for more than 40 years, most recently as an elementary school principal in New York City. For 16 years she taught in elementary classrooms, and she has extensive experience as a reading interventionist, mainly with middle school students. Michelle has also served as an educational consultant in the areas of staff development, peer coaching, and parent education, and she has worked for Houghton Mifflin as a consultant specializing in reading. She earned a master’s degree in reading diagnosis and remediation, with advanced certification in supervision and administration, from Brooklyn College.

Lisa Bratus has been in education for over 14 years. She spent seven years as a classroom teacher with second graders in Mendham Borough, New Jersey. While in the classroom, Lisa served on the curriculum writing team in the areas of language arts, math, and science. In recent years, Lisa has served as a literacy tutor and literacy coach for grades K–5 in school districts throughout New Jersey. In addition, as a literacy consultant, Lisa has presented workshops to teachers, parents, and students in the areas of language arts, classroom management, and differentiating instruction. Lisa graduated from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Janet Braun retired after 30 years with the Florida public school system. Those years included classroom experience in pre-K through third grade. The last 11 years she served as the district’s birth-to-five curriculum specialist. Janet was active in the development of district and statewide language arts alternative assessment programs. She has been an educational consultant, conducting professional development at state and national conventions, universities, and district in-services. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State University.

Robyn Collins received her degree from Georgia Southern University. She taught pre-K through second grade in Georgia public and private schools. She mentored new teachers and served as a cooperating teacher for student teachers. In addition, Robyn created and presented professional development workshops for teachers and administrators across the South in a variety of curricular areas, including language and literacy development, hands-on science and math teaching methods, and a course focusing on current brain research and brain-based teaching strategies. Robyn also has written and implemented curriculum for early childhood classrooms.

Mary Ellen Cunningham has been teaching since 1968, when she graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a master's degree in elementary reading instruction. Her teaching experience includes first and fourth grades and Title I reading (K–5), and she has served as a school librarian. She has also worked with adult literacy and has been a featured speaker at many state and national adult literacy conferences. When computer networks were first introduced in schools, Mary Ellen spent several years working as an educational specialist for IBM, training teachers in the use of computer networks and curriculum courseware.

Beth Ferrigno has been an educator for over 15 years, teaching first grade and computer technology for kindergarten through fifth grade. She also works as a tutor. She has created in-service training classes for classroom and special area teachers as well as student teachers. Beth taught graduate-level courses in instructional technology integration for five years to teachers of all academic areas and levels. She earned a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Potsdam and a master’s degree and an advanced diploma from the New York Institute of Technology.

Bonnie Francis most recently worked as an adjunct professor of elementary education and supervisor of student teachers at the State University of New York at Cortland. For 15 years, she delivered a broad range of educational services to more than a dozen school districts in the state of New York under the auspices of the Broome-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services, serving as elementary curriculum coordinator, coordinator of special-needs services, director of pre-K, and primary principal at the Chenango Valley Central School District. Bonnie’s teaching experience ranges from Head Start through grade six.

Rita Graves has taught in elementary and middle school classrooms and she has served as a vice principal and principal over the last four decades in both Pennsylvania and Texas. Throughout the years she has served on many accreditation teams and numerous curriculum development committees. In addition, she has worked as an academic consultant and presenter for Sadlier-Oxford, an educational publisher. Rita holds a master’s degree from the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio.

Johanna Harned began her career teaching in the elementary grades and presenting reading clinics across the Southeast. She moved into educational publishing, where she spent more than 30 years as a consultant for Scott Foresman, which became Pearson Education. Johanna has presented talks on literacy and other topics at local, state, regional, and national meetings. She has traveled across the United States and internationally training and learning from great teachers. Johanna earned a master’s degree from Murray State University in Kentucky.

Jean Koepsell recently retired after more than 30 years of teaching in various Wisconsin elementary classrooms. Her experience has been in pre-K through sixth grade, much of it in multiage classrooms. She has also served as a cooperating teacher for many student teachers. Jean has taught the kindergarten levels of the Superkids Reading Program since the inception of its pilot program. She has presented several handwriting workshops for various local and state conferences. Jean holds a bachelor's degree from Martin Luther College in Minnesota.

Emily Larsen has been in education for 10 years, teaching kindergarten and second grade in Illinois as well as tutoring primary students in reading and writing. She has also served as a team differentiation coordinator, new teacher trainer, and the trainer of trainers for reading. Emily holds a master’s degree in educational administration from Governors State University in University Park, Illinois, and endorsements in gifted education and music theater. She also directs and choreographs musicals with children in her school and community.

Barbara Masley has been an educator for over 40 years, serving as an elementary teacher, curriculum specialist, staff developer, and elementary principal in the second largest city in Massachusetts. For several years, she traveled cross-country working with the staffs of Early College High Schools, helping them focus on instructional techniques that promote literacy. Barbara developed a successful book bag program for kindergartners that involved them taking home picture books that the whole family could read together. She has always been a literacy advocate and has written many grants for schools and teachers to further literacy initiatives. Barbara holds master's degrees from Worcester State College and Harvard University and a certificate of advanced graduate studies from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Michelle Martinez worked in elementary education for 18 years as a kindergarten teacher and reading specialist in the primary grades. She taught Reading Recovery, Early Literacy, and Early Success at several Title I campuses. She managed a reading room library and trained staff on how to use the books and assess progress. Michelle earned a bachelor’s degree from Angelo State University and Reading Recovery certification from Abilene Christian University in Texas.

Sara McGettrick is a University of Texas graduate. She has seven years’ teaching experience in both the Austin Independent School District and the Diocese of Austin. Sara has taught the first- and second-grade levels of the Superkids Reading Program at St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic School in Austin. In addition to being a classroom teacher, she tutors elementary students and mentors education majors at St. Edward's University.

Nancy McLaughlin has been a classroom teacher, reading consultant, language arts consultant, literacy trainer, international teacher trainer, portfolio scorer, and BEST mentor. She has advanced training in the Orton-Gillingham and Reading Recovery programs. A public school reading consultant for 11 years, Nancy has presented workshops and in-services; created, performed, and analyzed student and faculty assessments; and delivered remediation to teachers and students. She has collaborated with administrators and faculty to develop language art curricula, prepared students and teachers for standardized testing, performed assessments and training, and presented parent and teacher workshops. Nancy graduated from Iona College and earned her master's at Dowling College in New York State.

Mike Moon has been in education for 33 years. He received his master's degree from West Texas State University. His classroom teaching experience includes pre-K through second grade. Mike has served as an elementary principal and district superintendent. He has presented professional development topics on early childhood, reading, curriculum development, inclusive practices, and differentiating instruction. Mike has also served as a mentor principal for the Stephen F. Austin State University principal preparation program.

Daria Myers has been in education for more than 30 years. She has taught pre-K, first grade, and reading, but her primary focus has been kindergarten. Daria has a master’s degree from National-Louis University in Illinois. Her thesis focused on thematic learning in early childhood classrooms. She has served on curriculum development committees at the district level and has presented workshops for kindergarten teachers, modeling new curriculum.

Julie O’Steen has worked in education for more than 13 years. After receiving her master’s degree in early childhood education from Florida State University in Tallahassee, she taught first, second, and fourth grades. While a classroom teacher, she also held a variety of administrative roles, including leader of teacher and parent training programs, developer of campus curriculum resources and initiatives, and member of statewide accreditation teams for the Florida Council of Independent Schools.

Susan Oldham has worked in education for more than 25 years as an elementary teacher and coach and sales consultant in educational publishing. She received her bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and her master’s degree from Mercer University. As a consultant for McGraw-Hill and Scott Foresman, she has worked closely with administrators and teachers across the United States, South America, and Asia, twice receiving Consultant of the Year awards.

Linda Pils received a master’s degree in reading and language arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She retired after 25 years of teaching in the primary grades, including pre-first and multi-age classes. Linda was codirector of the Wisconsin Writing Project at UW-Madison and editor of Elementary Science for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. She has written numerous articles for The Reading Teacher, Educational Leadership, and Instructor magazines, and has coauthored two books for primary teachers that focus on using children's literature in the classroom. She also served as a coach and trainer for Reading First in Wisconsin for three years.

Elizabeth Primas has served as Director of Advanced Programs and Director of Literacy for the District of Columbia public school system. She holds an education specialist degree and a doctorate in education from George Washington University, where she has also served as an adjunct professor. Elizabeth has extensive experience as a classroom teacher and presenter, and she is a published author. She currently runs a literacy and computer clinic for children in public housing.

Julie Ramirez has been in elementary education in New York and Florida for 10 years, with a focus on early childhood education. She has served as a team facilitator and is currently a curriculum resource teacher. In this role she serves as a new teacher mentor and an academic coach. She was awarded Teacher of the Year for her commitment to helping students succeed. Julie earned her bachelor’s degree from West Chester University in Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing her master’s degree from the University of West Florida.

Laurie Springmann has been teaching kindergarten, second, and third grades in New Orleans for the last 11 years. Laurie has taught the kindergarten levels of the Superkids Reading Program. Currently she tutors students who need additional reading and math support. She serves as a team member on her school’s global education committee and developed a program that introduces students to areas and cultures in the world. Laurie earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Orleans.

Connie Stewart worked as a teacher for 32 years in preschool through middle school in Delaware, Florida, and West Virginia. She has also been a national educational consultant for 17 years, conducting professional development seminars for elementary school personnel in 40 states. In addition to teaching and consulting, Connie has created and installed participatory museum exhibits to reflect a local science curriculum. She holds a master’s degree in elementary education from West Virginia University.

Ardas Wachter-Grene has been an educator for 37 years. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and teaching credential from the University of California, Berkeley, and her administrative credential from California State University, Hayward (now California State University, East Bay). In addition to teaching kindergarten through middle school, Ardas has served as a Title One program facilitator, designated principal, district curriculum K–5 literacy specialist, and an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, CSU Hayward (East Bay), Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, and Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona.

Meg Walters has been in education for 23 years. She taught second and third grades for the East Cleveland City Schools and the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools in Ohio. She has also taught as an adjunct instructor at Xavier and Northern Kentucky Universities. Most recently Meg has been providing supplemental education services for elementary students through the University of Cincinnati. Meg holds bachelor's and master's degrees from John Carroll University in Ohio.

Sue Westbrook taught in elementary, middle, and high schools in Hawaii, working for 12 years with dyslexic learners, struggling readers, and other at-risk students as well as teaching in regular classrooms. Currently in Wisconsin, Sue is a certified teacher of English (7–12) and has taught in middle school, working with a remedial reading program and at-risk students. She also conducts private tutoring and instructs at a tutoring center, working with early elementary through adult learners. Trained by Fellows of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators, Sue has used the Orton-Gillingham instructional approach for 14 years. She earned her teaching certification in English from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota and is working on a graduate degree with a focus on reading and curriculum development. Sue is the secretary of the Wisconsin Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (WIBIDA).

Deborah Wilkins worked for more than 30 years as a literacy coach, instructional specialist, and teacher in New York City, where she also served as a district coordinator and facilitator for the Success for All reading program. In addition, Deborah was a teacher of speech improvement and has worked extensively with special education and ESL students. She received a master’s degree in educational leadership from Bank Street College of Education in New York City. Deborah now lives in the Washington, D.C., area.