NPR – Anya Kamenetz
“BARR doesn’t require changing the teachers or the students in a school. It doesn’t overhaul the curriculum or discipline. It doesn’t require flashy technology. It’s based on something simple, and decidedly unsexy: meetings. Jerabek decided to focus her efforts on freshman year. Many students stumble in the transition to high school — more than any other year of school. A failing grade in that first year significantly raises your risk of dropping out. And that, in turn, can shadow your entire life. Just from one F grade. Researchers call this the “ninth-grade shock.” So, Jerabek figured out a way that all the adults in a school building could come together to try to cushion that shock.” (more)