MINNEAPOLIS, MN (March 5, 2020)—The BARR Center (Building Assets, Reducing Risks), a model that aims to bring education into the 21st century through intentionally deepened relationships and a data-driven, personalized and supportive approach, announced today that it is now listed under Evidence for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as a strong evidence-based program for social and emotional learning (SEL) in high school.
The BARR model has now met the Evidence for ESSA requirements five times. It has met the requirements four times in reading and math impacts—in reading for both the whole class and struggling students, as well as in math for both the whole class and struggling students. Now the BARR model is one of only four programs in the U.S. that supports the social and emotional learning needs of a school while also meeting the national ESSA evidence standards.
“BARR has now met the requirements a myriad of times for academics, and we are thrilled to be recognized by ESSA as a program that supports the social and emotional learning needs of students, as well,” explained BARR Executive Director Angela Jerabek. “Our whole-school, strengths-based model provides schools with a comprehensive approach to meeting the academic, social, and emotional needs of all students.”
BARR’s mission is to create equitable schools where every student, regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic status, has access to high quality education where adults know them, recognize their strengths, and help them to succeed. Built from a foundational belief that all schools have the capacity to make key changes using current staff, BARR produces proven and significant results.
With BARR, a team of core subject teachers work with a group of students and team members get to know students as individuals.
BARR’s SEL curriculum, “I-Time,” is a 30-minute weekly lesson facilitated by core subject teachers in which students learning more about themselves, discover their strengths, and build relationships between staff and students. Members of the teacher teams meet regularly to discuss each student’s strengths and progress and identify obstacles to learning.
Cohort teacher teams identify the most at-risk students and move them into a structured Risk Review process that engages the community to determine the most effective response. Parents are involved in BARR, participating in an orientation and a parent advisory council. Extensive professional development and coaching is provided to teachers, counselors, and administrators.
About BARR Center
The BARR Center (Building Assets, Reducing Risks) is a model that aims to bring education into the 21stcentury with intentionally deepened relationships and a data-driven personalized and supportive approach that aligns students, teachers, staff, and families with unified culture of support and success so that, together, we can build strong schools and communities. For more information, visit, https://barrcenter.org/