Media Release: Maine Expands Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) Model to 30 Additional Schools

Nearly 100 Maine Schools Now Implementing BARR Through Maine DOE Grants to Increase Academic Achievement, Engagement, and Student and Educator Wellbeing

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) announced grants for 30 additional Maine schools to implement the Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) model to increase academic achievement, engagement, and student and staff wellbeing. These new grants build on the Maine DOE’s initial BARR investment last summer, with nearly 100 schools now implementing BARR across the state.

BARR offers schools a framework that combines relationship building and asset development with real-time data to support students based on their strengths and connections to school. Empirical studies show that BARR results in increased student engagement, reduced chronic absenteeism, a 40 percent reduction on average in failure rates after one year of implementation, increased student achievement rates, and a reduction in high-risk student behavior and substance use. Educators report increased job satisfaction, higher levels of collaboration, and higher likelihood of persisting in their jobs after implementing BARR.

These positive changes are reflected in Maine schools that are already implementing BARR. Since implementing BARR, Bucksport High School’s graduation rate increased by more than 15 percent and Mt. Blue School High School has experienced a 30 percent decrease in chronically absent students, with a daily attendance rate of 94.14 percent. Through BARR, Noble Middle School has created more than 200 mentor matches to support students with significant risk factors. Westbrook High School’s BARR team was able to identify increased anxiety as the cause of a chronically absent student’s disengagement. They collaborated as staff and worked with the student’s family to create personalized interventions to improve the student’s experience at school. Now actively engaged in school activities and supported by a comprehensive plan, this student is not only coming to school and passing classes but has found a new passion for theatre.

“We are focused on empowering educators and school leaders, providing them with the tools and resources to strengthen the incredible teaching and learning happening in Maine schools. When I speak with educators who have implemented BARR in their schools, they are so enthusiastic about the positive academic and wellbeing changes they’ve experiences with students and the deeper relationships they are building with students and colleagues,” said Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin. “We’ve invested in BARR as a state because of the extensive research behind it and the overwhelming support it has among Maine educators. BARR offers a flexible framework that any school can adapt to meet their unique needs with results that extend years beyond the initial investment.”

“We are thrilled with the success of the schools implementing BARR in Maine. Bucksport, Maine was the first high school to take on the BARR model after I developed the model as a high school counselor in its original site in Minnesota. Jim Boothby, superintendent of Bucksport, saw BARR’s potential in 2010, and now we are the most researched model in the country,” said BARR Founder and Executive Director Angie Jerabek. “Maine schools continue to show student and educator gains under the BARR model, and we are excited to partner with the Maine Department of Education in this expansion.”

“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Mt. Blue High School social studies teacher Matt Fournier. “BARR doesn’t take time out of our schedule; it makes time. Since we are building relationships, we get greater buy-in, and students are more connected to the school.”

“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 Superintendent Mary Anne Spearin, who first implemented BARR as principal of Calais Middle/High School. BARR expanded to Calais Elementary School this year.

“The Loranger team is very excited to be partnering with BARR and implementing their research-based program. We know that this will help us grow and better meet the needs of all of our learners. We’re grateful for the funding to bring a program that has proven results among many schools in our state. We are eager to begin working with BARR to put into practice a system that supports both staff and students,” said Loranger Memorial School Principal Matthew Foster, who first experienced BARR as a classroom teacher at Noble High School. He is enthusiastic about bringing BARR to his school as an administrator in Old Orchard Beach.

“We are excited to welcome BARR to Indian Township School,” said Indian Township School Principal Molly Newell. “BARR’s focus is on building supportive relationships, addressing social-emotional needs, and promoting academic success, which aligns with our school’s goals of culturally relevant education, community involvement, and holistic student development within the context of our Indigenous values and traditions.”

More than 60 Maine educators just attended BARR’s national conference, with Commissioner Makin speaking on a panel of other state education leaders about how they are improving outcomes in their states. Educators from Brunswick Junior High School, Calais Elementary School, Maranacook Community High School in Readfield, Mt. Blue Regional School District, and Saccarappa Elementary School in Westbrook led workshops and served on panels to share the expertise they have gained through BARR implementation.

Maine was selected by the National Governors Association as one of five states who are engaged in exemplary efforts to support the mental health and wellbeing of students and school staff. Through this initiative, the NGA is supporting implementation of the BARR model in other states through technical support at the national level.

Read more about the BARR experience at Mt. Blue High School, Calais Elementary School, and Noble Middle School. Listen to Commissioner Makin’s podcast highlighting BARR schools here.

The Maine DOE used American Rescue Plan funding to create a competitive BARR grant to help schools invest in the model. To learn more about this funding, visit Maine’s Whole Student Pandemic Response page.

New BARR Grantees

AOS 94 – Ridge View Community School

AOS 96 – Fort O’Brien School

Baxter Academy for Tech & Sciences

Cherryfield School District – Cherryfield Elementary

Easton School Department – Easton Elementary School

Eustis Public School District – Stratton Elementary School

Indian Township School

Madawaska School Department – Madawaska Middle/High School

MSAD 17 – Paris Elementary School

MSAD 24 / RSU 88 -Van Buren District Secondary Sch

MSAD 6 – Edna Libby Elementary School

MSAD 6 – George E Jack School

MSAD 6 – H B Emery Jr Memorial School

MSAD 61 – Lake Region Middle School

North Haven Community School

RSU 10 – Buckfield Jr-Sr High School

RSU 14 – Jordan-Small Middle School

RSU 14 – Manchester Elementary School

RSU 14 – Windham Primary School

RSU 2 – Hall-Dale Middle and High School

RSU 2 – Monmouth Academy

RSU 2 – Monmouth Memorial School

RSU 23 – Loranger Memorial School

RSU 3 – Mt View High School

RSU 38 – Readfield Elementary School

RSU 39 – Caribou High School

RSU 56 – T W Kelly Dirigo Middle School

RSU 74 – Carrabec Community School

Saco Schools – Saco Middle School

Winthrop Public Schools – Winthrop Middle School

2023 Grantees

Acadia Academy

AOS 90, Princeton Elementary

Biddeford High School

Biddeford Intermediate School

Biddeford Middle School

Brunswick Junior High School

Calais Elementary School

Calais Middle/High School

Calais Middle/High School

Camden Hills Regional HS

Gorham School Department- Great Falls Elementary School

Gorham School Department- Narragansett Elementary School

Gorham School Department- Village Elementary School

Islesboro Central School

Kittery- Traip Academy

Maine Academy of Natural Sciences

MSAD 46- Dexter Regional High School

MSAD 44- Telstar Middle School

MSAD 52- Leavitt Area High School

MSAD 52- Tripp Middle School

MSAD 55- Sacopee Valley High School

MSAD 55- Sacopee Valley Middle School

MSAD 58- Day Mountain Regional Middle School

MSAD 58- Kingfield Elementary

MSAD 58- Mt. Abram High School

MSAD 58- Phillips Elementary

MSAD 6- Bonny Eagle Middle School

MSAD 60- Noble Middle School

MSAD 61- Lake Region High School

MSAD 70- Mill Pond School

MSAD 75- Mt. Ararat Middle School

MSAD 17- Oxford Hills Middle School

MSAD 49- Lawrence High School

RSU 24- Charles M. Sumner Learning Campus

RSU 34- Leonard Middle School

RSU 38- Maranacook Community High School

RSU 38- Maranacook Community Middle School

RSU 4- Oak Hill High School

RSU 4- Oak Hill Middle School

RSU 78- Rangeley Lakes Regional School

RSU 10- Mountain Valley High School

RSU 10- Mountain Valley Middle School

RSU 13- Oceanside Middle School

RSU 14- Windham High School

RSU 16- Bruce M. Whittier Middle School

RSU 16- Elm Street School

RSU 16- Minot Consolidated School

RSU 16- Poland Community School

RSU 34- Old Town Elementary

RSU 35- Marshwood High School

RSU 35- Marshwood Middle School

RSU 56- Dirigo High School

RSU 59- Madison High School

RSU 83/MSAD 13- Moscow Elementary School

RSU 83/MSAD 13- Upper Kennebec Valley Jr/Sr High School

RSU 9- Academy Hill School

RSU 9- Cape Cod Hill School

RSU 9- G.D. Cushing School

RSU 9- Mt. Blue High School

RSU 9- Mt. Blue Middle School

RSU 9- W.G. Mallett School

RSU 16- Poland Regional High School

RSU 64- Central High School

RSU9- Cascade Brook School

SAD 17- Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School

Sanford High School

Westbrook School Department- Canal School

Westbrook School Department- Congin Elementary

Westbrook School Department- Saccarappa School

Westbrook School Department- Westbrook High School

Westbrook School Department- Westbrook Middle School