Building Assets and Reducing Risks (BARR) I3 Scale-Up Evaluation. Final Report

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the implementation and impacts of the Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) model in its first year of implementation in 66 schools across the U.S. and to document scale-up progress during the Investing in Innovation (i3) grant period (2017-2021). The impact evaluation included 21,529 9th grade students and 524 teachers from 66 schools across three cohorts (2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 school years). The schools were recruited from 12 states and the District of Columbia, with a focus on relatively low-performing schools and districts. Schools in each cohort were randomly selected to receive the BARR model immediately (the treatment group) or receive BARR after one year (a 'wait-list' control group) to provide a reference for measuring the impacts of the BARR model on a range of academic and nonacademic outcomes after the first year of implementation. Across the three study cohorts combined, BARR had substantial and statistically significant impacts on the proportion of students who passed all their core courses. BARR had a statistically significant impact on student achievement for mathematics, but not for reading, as measured by the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), for the two combined cohorts for which this outcome was available. Assignment to BARR caused a negative (favorable) impact on the percentage of students who were chronically absent but did not have a statistically significant impact on suspension rates or persistence to 10th grade across the combined cohorts. The evaluation also found significant positive program effects on seven of nine measures of teacher experiences, with the most substantial effects on teacher collaboration with and view of colleagues, teacher use of data, and teachers' views of school supports. Schools assigned to receive the BARR model as part of the evaluation experienced both challenges and successes in implementing the eight BARR model components with fidelity. BARR Center also made significant progress in implementing the six scaling strategies they considered important to grow and sustain the model over time. The findings from this evaluation indicate that BARR is an effective model for schools aiming to improve students' transitions into ninth grade, reduce course failure, and narrow existing gaps in student academic outcomes between different demographic subgroups of students. [The report was written with Ashley Sunde, So Jung Park, Briana Garcia, and Connie Chandra.]