The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to compare nonsense word reading, phoneme segmentation fluency and overall reading achievement of four low performing first and second graders before and after replacing teacher constructed word activities with systematic synthetic phonics instruction (SSPI). In addition to quantitative data, qualitative interview data was collected from four district interventionists who provided insight into instructional experiences. Nonsense word reading fluency of this sample produced mixed responses to instruction. All four students made gains in phoneme segmentation fluency after SSPI. The researcher suggests continuing the current implementation of Guided Reading Plus by highly trained teachers
