Principal Tiffanie Miley of Springville Junior High in Nebo School District was honored as the 2023 Utah Principal of the Year for the State of Utah by the Utah Association of Secondary School Principals.
“Tiffanie is a fellow colleague whom I have great respect and admiration for. Tiffanie is the quintessential school principal, possessing the traits, desires, and capacities for successful school leadership. Her leadership style is based on trust, something she generously gives and receives,” stated Supervisor Troy Peterson. “Another quality Tiffanie possesses is her strong background in effective instructional practices. She is very familiar with John Hattie’s research and the Visible Learning framework. She and I have had great conversations around this topic. She is also an expert in the art of coaching/mentoring, being one of the most well read administrators in our district on this subject.”
Tiffanie recognizes that every teacher brings their own passions and gifts to the classroom and encourages each of them to learn, to collaborate, and to achieve their own ideals. A teacher at Springville Junior High wrote, “Tiffanie sees the teachers she’s working with as whole human beings and treats us with respect and care. Knowing this allows me to show up and put more care into my students because I know I am seen and valued and someone is putting care into me.”
“Tiffanie is an amazing leader. She has worked with her faculty to create a shared vision and has provided leadership opportunities for them to leverage their strengths in alignment with this shared vision, said Dr. RaShel Shepherd, Secondary Director, “We are so proud of Tiffanie’s leadership. She is committed to creating a nurturing, loving, kind environment where her teachers and students thrive.”
When asked, Ms. Miley said, “One of my foundational beliefs about leadership is that we are better together. Teachers have many varied opportunities to be involved in what goes on at Springville Junior High School. In the spring of my first year as principal, with input from our school leadership team, we transitioned from a traditional leadership team to a structure consisting of different teams to achieve different purposes: the Tier 1 Instruction team, the Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) team, and the Tier 2 Intervention team. One of the first priorities of these teams was to learn about effective Tier 1 practices, MTSS, and tiered interventions. The teams then gathered input from the faculty and started making plans to improve our school. What excited me most about this restructuring was that when we opened up the teams to volunteers, more than half of our faculty joined one or more teams without any recruiting. They are a force to be reckoned with! My part in the process was coaching the teams, asking the questions, and giving the teachers space and trust to come up with creative solutions to the issues facing our school—I tapped into their innovation and creativity, and it has made all the difference.”
Tiffanie earned a bachelor’s degree in English Education and a master’s degree in Teacher Education, both from Brigham Young University. She also earned an Administration License from Southern Utah University.
Ms. Miley has served as Principal of Springville Junior High since 2019 and as an Assistant Principal of Springville High School for four years. She served as the Dean of Students of Springville Junior for two years previously. Tiffanie was an English teacher for 14 years at Springville Junior High School; over the years she taught seventh, eighth, and ninth grade English, reading for enjoyment, and journalism. She also spent ten years as a mentor working with beginning teachers.
Ms. Miley was honored as Springville Junior High Teacher of the Year in 2011 and received the Springville Junior High PTA Excellence in Service Award in 2006 and 2012.
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