Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Karen Dunbar

Assistant Principal at Ellis Middle School

Starting in the 2024-25 school year, Ellis Middle School will join Austin High School in partnering with the BARR Center to implement the BARR program. BARR (Building Assets, Reducing Risks) is a strength-based educational model that focuses on student strengths, goal-setting, and brainstorming ways to help all students experience success in school. The two fundamental pillars in BARR are (1) creating positive, intentional relationships and (2) using real-time student data in collaborative problem-solving settings to guide instructional action. BARR is grounded in science-based research, has been evaluated, and has consistently demonstrated positive results.

The BARR model uses eight interlocking strategies, including a focus on the whole student, professional development for teachers, counselors, and administrators, and fostering a climate for learning. We will have access to a BARR Coach from the BARR Center who will help us on our journey to fully implement this model.

Ellis will also have a full-time BARR Coordinator who will be involved in every aspect of BARR implementation. They will attend all Team meetings and be sure teachers have everything that they need to facilitate BARR’s I-Time lessons. The BARR Coordinator will also coordinate with the BARR Center to lead professional development that is meaningful and timely for our teachers.

Teachers will facilitate weekly 30-minute lessons to intentionally build student-to-student and student-to-teacher relationships.  These lessons, provided by the BARR Center, are engaging for students and teachers alike.  They focus on both relationship-building and social emotional learning while fostering a sense of community.

At Ellis, we will continue to organize the school into teams so we can better serve students. The teams will have a shared meeting time during the school day to collaborate on the best way to help students and accelerate learning. Some of these meetings will also involve our grade level counselors and our administration. Some meetings will have to take place outside of the student school day so that we are able to get all the adults around the table for the purpose of better serving our students.

Finally, this model focuses on family involvement, recognizing that families are an essential part of the team. To focus on the whole student, we must understand better where they come from every morning and where they return to after school. We may find out that it is important to seek out additional community resources in collaboration with the family to ensure that each student is able to achieve the goals that they have for themselves.