Photo by Deb Gau Marshall High School teachers Bessie Skalicky and Emily Snyder and Principal Brian Jones answered questions during Monday’s Marshall School Board meeting. The three presenters gave an update on a new learning program being used with some of the ninth-grade students at MHS.

MARSHALL — A new learning approach at Marshall High School has been helping with student achievement. On Monday, Principal Brian Jones said there’s been “a significant increase” in the number of ninth- and 10th-graders passing their classes, after MHS implemented a program called BARR (Building Assets Reducing Risks).

In a presentation to the Marshall School Board, Jones said the number of Marshall ninth graders passing all their classes increased almost 4% over the course of the school year. Jones and ninth-grade teachers Bessie Skalicky and Emily Snyder said the BARR framework also helps faculty find ways to focus on students’ strengths and get them the support they need.

“It has made a huge difference,” Skalicky said.

Over the past two school years, a team of MHS teachers — including Skalicky, Snyder and Mitchell Maxwell — has been using the BARR framework for ninth-grade students in year-long classes. Jones said that group includes about one-third of all ninth-graders at MHS.

MHS is one of 31 schools in three states that have been implementing BARR through a grant funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Jones said MHS received $8,500 a year in funding for the first three years of the grant program.

BARR is a framework that is focused on the whole student and on building community, not just on helping students improve academically, presenters said.

“The focus is on being very intentional in building relationships,” Jones said.

If a student is struggling, teachers can use what they know about the student’s strengths, interests and relationships to help them. They can also connect with other resources, counselors, coaches or support services to help students, Skalicky said.

The program also uses real-time data about students’ assignments and grades to help teachers find ways to support individual students, she said.

The members of the BARR teacher team meet regularly and work together to identify students who might need academic support, counseling or other resources. Snyder said one kind of intervention the team has commonly used is “academic intensive care,” where students work with teachers during one part of lunch.

“It’s an opportunity for us to have more in-depth, one-on-one conversations about academics,” Snyder said.

Another opportunity for intervention is using the seminar time ninth-graders have during one part of the school day. Snyder said it gives students a chance to work with teachers for additional help, or work on homework.

“It’s used very wisely by a majority of students,” she said.

Jones said ninth-grade students at MHS have made improvements in their academic performance over the course of this school year.

At 12 weeks into the first semester of the school year, 80.45% of students were passing their classes. At the same point in the second semester, that number had increased to 84.4%. Jones said MHS had also seen significant improvements among 10th-graders, some of whom were exposed to the BARR program last year.

“Overall, our passing percentage has increased,” he said.

Jones said the goal for next school year will be to roll the BARR program out for all ninth-grade students at MHS. In order to do that, MHS will need to create more teams of teachers who work together over the course of the year.

Snyder would also be taking on the role of BARR coordinator at MHS next year, Jones said.

There could possibly be opportunities to use BARR at other grade levels, Jones told school board members. However, he didn’t know what that framework would look like in an elementary school.

“I think it would work exceptionally well at the middle school level, which already does teaming,” he said. “I think it’s something we definitely want to keep an eye on.”