Maine DOE Podcast Highlights Calais Schools Implementing BARR to Strengthen Relationships and Student Engagement

Maine Has More Than 70 Schools Implementing the Building Assets Reducing Risks Model (BARR), With Additional Funding Available for More Schools to Implement the Program

On the latest episode of the Maine Department of Education's (DOE) "What Holds Us Together" podcast, Education Commissioner Pender Makin talked with Calais Elementary School Principal Sue Carter and Calais Superintendent Mary Anne Spearin about their experiences implementing the Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) model in their district. BARR combines relationship-building and the use of real-time data to strengthen student engagement, wellbeing, achievement, educator wellbeing, and connections across the school community. Listen here.

Calais Elementary School began implementing BARR this school year in fifth and sixth grade through a statewide grant opportunity provided by the Maine DOE through federal funds. More than 70 schools across Maine are now BARR schools, with additional funding available for schools that want to implement BARR in the next school year.

Makin spent the day at Calais Elementary School to experience the successes the school is having with BARR firsthand and taped her podcast onsite with the school leaders. Read more about her visit here.

"I'm so grateful that you hosted us today from the Department. We brought a team and we got to visit all of the classrooms. We also got to sit in on some of the BARR activities, including what's called U-Time. When I asked 'What is U-Time?' she said, 'Well, it's an activity that we do where we learn a little bit more about ourselves and about our classmates.' And it was just so well said. And then we also got to sit in with a group of teachers having a conversation that's called a small block conversation, where they were discussing students in this particular case, who are appearing to be thriving across the board who are high academic achievers, and they discussed each student in terms of possibilities, ways to be more challenged, and also any concerns that might otherwise have gone unnoticed," said Makin during her podcast intro.

Makin asked Carter what she and educators are experiencing through their BARR implementation.

"We started BARR at the elementary school in September. We applied for the state-provided program and it has really grown and become part of our school, culture, and climate," said Carter. "Recently, we looked at our attendance. We usually don't look at attendance until it's a problem, and [now we] identified some kids that have been out seven days, taking the opportunity to send a letter home to say, 'Hey, your kids missed seven days. We don't want them to be truant, how can we help to make sure that they get to school?' The data is inputted every week. You talk about and see that data over time."

Spearin implemented BARR while she was an administrator at the middle/high school and provided a longer-term view of the BARR experience.

"The Calais Middle/High School adopted the program in 2016. I'm a true believer in the program. We originally brought it on because the main focus was grades and the transition into ninth grade. For us, it really made a difference when we could see the number of failures in our coursework had changed significantly in the first year and then changed again the next year. And then as time went on, it went into more of the behavioral and checking in with the students and making sure they had trusted adults and really working on how they created a culture within the ninth-grade cohorts," said Spearin.

While at the school, Commissioner Makin had the opportunity to participate in a sixth-grade U-Time activity called "What's on your plate?" Every U-Time is different, and in Carly Davis's sixth-grade class, it was all about self-discovery. Sixth graders and DOE team members were each given a paper plate, which they folded in half. On one side were the participants' responsibilities, and on the other were the things they did in their free time. After making the plates, Davis engaged the students through a series of discussion around having a balanced plate, which portions are taking up too much time, which portions they love, which portions they wish they had less of, and so forth. On the back of the plates, students wrote one thing they wished they could add or take away from their plate.

Students learn about one another through these activities, about themselves, and teachers about their students in a deeper way. Teachers also share these valuable insights at their block meetings so the entire teaching team has that information. Block meetings happen weekly, with teacher cohorts discussing not just academic-related data but every student's strengths, passions, and personal goals. This opens a broader, more positive discussion around the whole student. The team works off a spreadsheet that builds a picture of each student by reviewing a variety of in-school factors, including progress in class, attendance, and behavior. The team also discusses factors outside the school, such as extracurricular interests, personal health, issues with other students, or troubles at home. All this data collection allows the team to flag challenges early and work together to solve problems. Importantly, teachers track not just problems but student strengths to identify achievable goals to get or keep students on track for success. For students coping with the toughest situations in and out of school, BARR's model requires a weekly Community Connect meeting that involves more specialized staff, such as the school nurse and school psychologist along with school administration.

"The other piece that's really important about BARR is we always talk about the kids who are struggling or you know, not doing so well. But today we actually talked about four kids who were doing very well," said Carter. "So it identifies those kids and we talked about those kids as well, which I think you need to have a balance, and the program forces you to do that. [The teachers] are very, very committed to it."

Makin asked Carter if she is seeing any changes in student outcomes or differences in school culture now that she is more than halfway through her first year of implementing BARR.

"I would say so. Last week, the kids had posters that they wrote on about what BARR has done for them. [And they wrote] it helped me be aware of myself, it helped me to be more friendly, it brought me joy, it taught me empathy. So absolutely, every person, adult and student, is able to vocalize what they are gaining from BARR without having to think about it," said Carter. "There's not any way that can't carry over to outside of school as well because it's in them. It's a part of them, and they'll take that with them and as they move on to middle school, which is very important. It will help them be successful there as well."

Makin asked what Carter and Spearin would say to other school leaders considering BARR.

"From the superintendent role and perspective, I would say that I am 100 percent in support of BARR. I loved it as a building administrator and as a team member. I saw the changes that it made for our freshmen students coming in. It supports our students. It gives them additional resources because it forces you to bring in resources from your community," said Spearin. "The other part is the fact that teachers are out there alone and this forces time together. It forces them to look at the kids as our kids, not my kids. It also forces them to really look at the positives. It forces them to look at the challenges and to come up with a community solution to what's going on with those students in the positive times and in the challenging times. And so it really does give the teachers the ability to have a team to work from and it also allows them to sit and look at the positives that are coming from all the work that they're doing. We do not have enough time built into the day to do that unless you have a program that really encourages that."

Makin asked how activities like U-Time, the regular data collection that educators are engaged in, and the conversations in block times create better grades and fewer failures in ninth grade.

"We had kids who would be looking at not doing their homework. You had an entire team of teachers saying I know that the basketball season is coming up and this is really important to this kid. Who knows this kid well enough to be able to go have that conversation about what they need to get that work done so that their grades don't drop below the athlete eligibility piece? Or I know this student and they're really having some challenges at home. Who knows a student well enough and has a connection to be able to reach out [to them]? We even had liaisons with the community that came in and we could then open those conversations up with them as well," said Spearin. "Instead of a student that went through eight different periods in a two-day time and nobody had the opportunity to reach out and say, we know there's something going on, how do we support you? And it wasn't doing the work for them. It was saying what do you need to be successful?"

Applications are now open to all willing and qualified public schools that would like to become a BARR school. Click here to apply. Applications are due by March 18, 2024, by 5 pm EST. The Maine DOE will cover all costs of implementing the program for schools new to BARR for the 2024-2025 school year.

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

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