Supporting Students

College and Career Center
Resources for college and/or career planning.

Counseling Program
Support for students in academic planning, and social/emotional development.

School Nurse

Wellness Center
Support for mental health, chemical health and more.

Building Assets, Reducing Risks (B.A.R.R.)

Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) is a strengths-based whole school model that provides SAHS with a comprehensive approach to meeting the academic, behavioral, social, and emotional needs of all students. BARR works directly with educators to better connect with their students and address the issues that cause students to drop out, fail courses, and/or engage in harmful behavior. BARR has a 20-year track record of student success, paired with improved job satisfaction among teachers, and has been proven to drive significant improvements in course credits earned, grade point averages, and standardized test scores; narrowed opportunity gaps; and decreased failure rates, suspensions, and absenteeism.

BARR was implemented in 2017 at Stillwater High School, and we continue to improve, grow, and develop the model. In 2020, all licensed staff at Stillwater Area High School were trained in the BARR model. BARR is fully implemented in 9th grade and 10th graders are now fully teamed as well. Students in 9th and 10th grade share a Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies teacher and one dedicated Special Education teacher is dedicated to most teams. These Block Teams meet regularly to monitor students and develop appropriate interventions. I-Times happen regularly in BARR classes to ensure that students are receiving I-Times each week throughout the year on a consistent schedule. This is essential for student buy-in, relationship building, and data collection so block meeting interventions can be informed by the information gathered during I-Time lessons. The Risk Review team, consisting of counselors, administration, nurse, wellness center staff, and school psychologists meet weekly to problem solve the highest need students in class and find resources to support their needs.

In 2020, due to the success of the BARR program at Stillwater Area High School, SAHS was invited to be an "anchor school" in the Network for School Improvement (NSI). Our aim is to expand BARR's national footprint with a focus on Black, Latinx, and low-income students. Our goal is to is to increase grade point averages in grades 11 and 12 while also improving college ready on-track rates for all students. This will be done through targeted interventions across all grade levels. In short, BARR creates a culture in which we do not allow any students to fall through the cracks at Stillwater Area High School.

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Office Hours

In 2017, the 9th Grade Transition Team proposed implementing a flexible period of time during the school day in order to provide a somewhat flexible period designed to create additional time for students as they pursue their individual passions, post-secondary goals and a sense of belonging within Stillwater Area High School. The objectives of Flex Time are:

Relationship Building: Our students will connect with staff and other students who share common interests and/or goals.
Academic Equity: Our students will have individualized access to teachers and resources to enrich and support learning during school hours.
Social/Emotional Well-Being: Our students’ wellness needs will be supported through flexible time to meet academic and social/emotional demands.
An adult advocate is assigned to each student who will loop each year with the group to further develop student-teacher relationships over the four years. Students will work with their advocate and assigned counselor to develop their personalized learning plan and help orient 9th grade students to their new school.

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Link Crew

Link Crew is a high school transition program that welcomes freshmen and makes them feel comfortable throughout the first year of their high school experience. Built on the belief that students can help students succeed, this high school transition program trains mentors from the SAHS junior and senior classes to be Link Crew Leaders. As positive role models, Link Crew Leaders are mentors and student leaders who guide the freshmen to discover what it takes to be successful during the transition to Stillwater Area High School and help facilitate freshman success. More and more studies show that if students have a positive experience their first year in high school, their chance for success increases dramatically. Link Crew provides the structure for freshmen to receive support and guidance from juniors and seniors who have been through the challenges that high school poses, and understand that the transition to a larger school can sometimes be overwhelming.

Link Crew is a year long transition program with four components that contribute to its success:

High School Orientation - Link Leaders and freshmen start building the mentor relationship and freshmen receive information about how to be successful in high school
Academic Follow Ups - Link Leaders support freshman academic success and character development through structured classroom visits
Social Follow Ups - Link Leaders and freshmen connect outside the classroom at social events to increase student engagement, and promote positive school climate
Leader Initiated Contacts - Link Leaders connect with their freshmen on a more individual basis

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Peer Helpers

Peer Helpers are members of the student body who are trained to listen, support and encourage their peers through one-on-one relationships. Peer Helpers are available to work with students on both the little and big challenges they face. In addition to helping mediate the occasional misunderstanding between friends, the students are combating the stigma of mental illness by making it comfortable for kids to open up about topics that concern high school students.

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Peer Tutors

Students interested in receiving academic support from a peer tutor should contact the National Honor Society Advisor. National Honor Society students provide peer tutoring throughout the year.

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WICOR Strategies

Stillwater Area High School is an AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) school and we believe in incorporating many AVID strategies across all areas. AVID’s proven learning support structure for middle and high school—and enhanced for higher education—is known as WICOR, which incorporates teaching/learning methodologies in the following critical areas: Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading to Learn. WICOR provides a learning model that teachers can use to guide students to comprehend materials and concepts, and articulate ideas, at increasingly complex levels. Furthermore, the WICOR model reflects and promotes the expertise and attitudes that will serve students well in life beyond college graduation. Surveys of employers indicate that they seek college educated employees who have strong interpersonal skills, communicate well, and have the ability to develop creative solutions to new problems in collaborative ways. AVID’s scaffold of social and academic structures instills these qualities, while at the same time improving outcomes in academic performance, building critical reading and thinking skills for rigorous fields of study, using writing as a powerful thinking and communication tool, and fostering collaboration among students, teachers, and other professionals within higher education and the “real” world of working and living.

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