Eisenhower High Freshman English Teachers Lay Foundation for FIP Growth

Freshman English Teachers Lay Foundation for FIP Growth

January, 2012 saw the launch of the Focused Instruction Process (FIP) at Eisenhower High School.

After four days of intensive training, teachers Tasia Addison, Sara Davis and Teidra Taylor designed and began implementation of this research-based, eight-step process.

With FIP, every freshmen student receives specific skill instruction determined by the disaggregation of test data, and articulated on the instructional timeline. Following that instruction, students receive a formative assessment. These results are used to inform instruction, and assign students into tutorial and enrichment groups. Tutorial students are then retested to assure that follow-up assistance has been sufficient to raise students’ capacities. Teachers maintain skill knowledge through spiraling back, building on, and continuously revisiting previous material.

In order to assure a coordinated effort, these teachers meet collaboratively 3-4 times a month to:

1)     share quality instructional resources and successful lessons,

2)     conduct assessment evaluations using the Backward Design Process,

3)     discuss ongoing data and create action steps,

4)     talk about challenges and celebrate successes.

It takes a committed learning community to make FIP a success. Thanks to these teachers, Freshman Assistant Principal Janice Ranzy-Allen, Terezka Jirasek, Strategic Learning Initiatives facilitator and American Institutes of Research coordinator, Teresa Lance, FIP is not only alive and well at Eisenhower, but will be expanding into more subject areas and grade levels during the upcoming school year.