Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction

Over the past few years, FCPS has worked towards becoming an evidence-informed school system by infusing Mind, Brain, and Education principles into our existing systemic priorities.  As FCPS staff members seek additional resources and professional learning in this area, we are excited to recommend Tom Sherrington's compact, easy-to-read book Rosenshine's Principles in Action.  This resource focuses on high impact strategies that can be applied across content areas and grade levels.  The ten principles shared in the text provide support to curriculum design, coaching and evaluating teachers, guiding school improvement efforts and learning environments for students with a variety of needs.  Based on the work of Barak Rosenshine and his article from American Educator, Rosenshine’s principles bridge the gap between research and practice by examining what works in effective teachers’ classrooms. The text focuses on familiar educational practices like questioning, reviewing material and modeling, as well as providing simple, concrete and ready-to-use strategies. Sherrington believes that Rosenshine’s principles are authentic, trustworthy and free of gimmicks and that focusing on what we know works allows us to be more deliberate about improving teacher practice. Readers will likely to find the principles affirming, accessible and practical.

The following resources have been provided to allow you to explore Rosenshine's principles at your convenience.  In addition, FCPS schools will have access to a one-credit MSDE book study on Rosenshine's Principles in Action during the 2022-2023 school year.