Apple Valley’s BARR program credited with reducing ninth‑grade failure rates; district plans expansion

Apple Valley High School administrators told the school board on Feb. 10 that the Building Assets and Reducing Risks (BARR) approach — an interdisciplinary, relationship‑and‑data program for ninth graders — produced meaningful early gains in course completion, attendance and behavior and will expand to the district’s other comprehensive high schools next fall.

Principal Drew Mons, Assistant Principals Pete Biscans and Bill Blatzheim described a model that places students into interdisciplinary "houses" (teacher teams sharing roughly 80–90% of the same students), builds weekly "I‑time" social‑emotional lessons, and uses a shared spreadsheet to track grades and interventions. "We see higher course completion rates. We're seeing improved attendance and decreased behavior issues," Mons said.

Key outcomes and rollout District presenters said Apple Valley began a focused BARR implementation two years ago with two houses and expanded to a third house this year; about 50–60% of the ninth‑grade cohort now participates in houses and many other students receive parts of the program. The district received a $250,000 state grant to support the initial implementation and professional development; the first three years of coaching and training were paid from that grant and operating funds, presenters said.

Data presented to the board included: - In BARR classes at Apple Valley, of 324 total grades across English, social studies and science last year, speakers reported seven F grades; three of those were linked to a student with significant attendance issues. - When district failure‑rate data for ninth grade were disaggregated, presenters said Apple Valley’s cohort showed a larger drop in students receiving one or more F grades than the district average between the 2022–23 and 2023–24 school years: districtwide ninth‑grade decrease 1.4 percentage points versus a 5 percentage‑point decrease at Apple Valley. Presenters also reported larger decreases among some subgroups at Apple Valley (Black/African American students: a 9.5 percentage‑point decrease; Hispanic/Latino students: 3.3 percentage points; White students: 1.2 percentage points; students identified as two or more races: a 22% decrease as presented).

Program design and operations Assistant Principal Biscans described operational details: teachers share common planning time, rotate I‑time lessons once every three weeks, and document every student so "nobody slips through the cracks." Blatzheim described the "big block" meetings where counselors and social workers join teacher teams to review students, start conversations with "strengths first," and set SMART goals with assigned follow‑ups.

Student voices Two ninth‑grade students, Everett Guzman Reyes and Allison (Ellie) Kaylor, spoke to the board about feeling supported and forming new relationships because of I‑time lessons and house structures. Everett credited a BARR teacher’s encouragement for his enrollment in honors government; Allison described I‑time as helping her make new friends and feel like she belongs.

Questions, funding and next steps Board members and audience members asked about ongoing costs and scalability. Administrators said the state grant covers early years and professional coaching, that operating budget and workshop days can absorb some training, and that district staff believe they can implement BARR at all four comprehensive high schools while maintaining coaching and training. The presenters said they will continue tracking cohort-level outcomes, will export house-level data to tenth‑grade teachers to support transitions, and will return results as the program expands.

Ending Officials asked to return with follow-up disaggregated analyses (for example, tracking students who experienced BARR in ninth grade as they move into later grades). The board expressed support for continued evaluation and rollout.