(Through BARR, Mt. Blue High School students McKylee and Kenzee developed a strong bond with their ninth-grade counselor and BARR Coordinator, Anna Peterson, that continued into their sophomore year.)

For five years, Mt. Blue High School in Farmington has used the BARR (Building Assets Reducing Risks) model to ease ninth graders into high school. As a result, they have seen increased attendance, lower failure rates, and stronger bonds between educators and students and among educators.

“Freshmen have always been a demographic of students who have struggled,” said ninth-grade Earth Science teacher Kerry Schlosser, “I think BARR leads to just an additional level of support. Especially when you go from middle school to high school, it’s such a vulnerable year, a vulnerable time.”

The ninth-grade educator team at Mt. Blue know their students deeply. They greet them by name in the hall, know who their best friends are, and their dreams for the future. BARR helps facilitate those strong relationships.

Mt. Blue High School is one of more than 70 schools across Maine implementing BARR. Last summer, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) provided an opportunity for any school in the state to become a BARR school and join schools like Mt. Blue that have been experiencing incredible success through BARR.

BARR is a model that combines relationship building (staff to staff, staff to student, and student to student) and real-time data to enable schools to strengthen academic outcomes and wellbeing for all students. By building strong relationships with students and fellow educators, teachers can work together to support the whole student.

Educator teams meet in Block Meetings, where they discuss each student individually, focus on their strengths and connections to school, share personal knowledge and observations (e.g., a student’s mental health, family life, goals, etc.) and analyze benchmark data (e.g., grades, attendance, behavior, etc.).

Schlosser explains how Block Meetings work at Mt. Blue.

“We have a Big Block at the end of the week where we discuss students as a big team with the administrator, school counselor, and social worker. Then, at the beginning of the week, we have our Small Block meeting, where we as teacher teams and then discuss students and small interventions there,” she said.

Students whom educators identify as at risk are discussed in Community Connect meetings, which involve greater school community members including school resource officers and administrators. At Mt. Blue, they hold weekly Community Connect Meetings, which include Peterson, the ninth-grade Assistant Principal Greg Henderson, school social workers Angelica Levy and Jack Turner, school nurse Vicky Gerstenberger, special education building coordinator Mike Hanson, and school resource officer Matt Brann. During their meetings, the Community Connect team develops strategies to intervene and limit poor behaviors before they result in a suspension.

Makylee, a sophomore, feels that the support she got through BARR in ninth grade set her up to have better relationships with her sophomore teachers.

“Teachers talk and have meetings. They let each other know how you are as a student, so you don’t have to go in as a fresh start,” she shared. “Then, your bond just increases to grow.”

These positive relationships with educators are built during I-Time. Much like Block and Community Connect Meetings, I-Times can vary from school to school. At Mt. Blue, each ninth-grade teacher has twenty freshmen they see during multiple I-Times. I-Times involve everything from relationship building activities to life skills development. Most importantly, these I-Times allow students to meet and bond with peers and teachers, and students are able to bond on a deeper level.

“Not only did your teachers get to know you, you got to know them, and you bonded as a class and a community,” Makylee said.

Before investing in BARR, Mt. Blue saw consistently high suspensions and low attendance rates.

“The year before BARR, suspensions were through the roof, and there were a lot of different behaviors,” remembers Joel Smith, the Mt. Blue Principal. “Hearing that BARR had an impact on academics, attendance, and behavior, that was appealing…especially the behavioral component, and we’ve seen a difference since then.”

Since starting BARR, Mt. Blue’s suspension rates have gone down, their attendance is up, and the failure rate was below five percent in the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year.

“Our failure rate, since implementing BARR, has gone down each and every year,” said Smith.

Outside of the data and inside the classroom, educators are experiencing those positive trends firsthand and they are sustained past freshman year. Sophomore English teacher Meadow Sheldon, who has been teaching at Mt. Blue since before BARR was implemented, sees a real difference in her post-BARR sophomores.

“They work hard, and they can advocate for themselves,” Sheldon conveyed. “They have an understanding of what [their grades]  mean and ask for help more than students have in the past.”

What’s more, students feel better about being at school. Quinn, a freshman, found school unappealing up until this year. Now, he is an honor student who is close to his teachers.

“It feels like the school actually treats me like a person instead of like a kid,” he said.

Peterson is immensely proud of the ninth-grade team’s work with BARR.

“I love the way that we take care of every ninth-grade student. We notice if their grades are slipping if they’re absent, or if there is a problem,” he said.

Smith and Peterson hope to see the BARR model extended to the entire high school someday.

“We are looking at opportunities whenever possible to implement the BARR model,” said Smith.

Interested in becoming a BARR school? Attend this BARR webinar coming up:

• Thursday, March 14, 2024 | 3:00pm ET | Click Here To Register 

Applications are now open to all willing and qualified public schools that would like to become a BARR (Building Assets, Reducing Risks) school. Click here to apply. Applications are due by March 22, 2024 by 5:00pm EST.

The Maine DOE will cover all costs of implementing the program for schools new to BARR for the 2024-2025 school year. (Note: if you are already a BARR school with an existing contract, your costs will be covered for the 2024-2025 school year as well and you do not need to reapply.)

The Maine DOE used American Rescue Plan funding to create a competitive BARR grant to help schools invest in the model.