In its eleventh year (school year 2010-2011), BRI has launched a new model to deepen its impact on the schools with which it works.  BRI this year is placing highly-qualified principals into four chronically under-performing schools around the state in an effort to strengthen dramatically the academic achievement of their students.  These principals were selected following a nationwide search and have begun their work in the schools. The principals, employed by BRI, operate pursuant to a three-year Memorandum of Understanding between BRI and the respective districts and are given authority over personnel, curriculum, discipline, grading and retention policies, and other key policies that affect the schools' performance.

     In addition, BRI will continue to place master-level teachers into the schools as Barksdale Literacy Coaches (BLCs).  These BLCs will work with K-3 faculty in the schools to provide mentoring and support in the implementation of BRI's reading model. Other personnel, such as assistant principals and lead teachers, also are placed into the schools, on a school-by-school basis.

     BRI will be working this year with over 110 teachers and approximately 2,100 students.      

     As in past years, the first part of the school year involves administration of informal assessments, primarily the AIMSweb assessment of reading and math skills across all grades. As in the previous two years, BRI will also administer a normed, summative assessment - Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE) and Group Math Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GMADE) - on a pre- and post-basis.  GRADE and GMADE, which are adminstered primarily by outside personnel, constitute BRI's main internal report card.

     The literacy and language arts model that will be implemented employs a 3-hour literacy block that includes whole-class and small-group instruction, interventions (provided by both teachers and by BRI- and school-provided intervention specialists), independent work centers, Accelerated Reader, and the accompanying strategies that allow the teachers to work with homogeneously-grouped students.  The assistant teacher will play a vital role in ensuring that the students are fully engaged and will be a core member of the teaching team, concentrating especially on small-group instruction activities and interventions.
      Training has been provided during the summer of 2009 to both teachers and to assistant teachers.  This training will continue throughout the course of the year, both in-school and off-site. Peer Coaching Study Team meetings will be held over the course of the year, during which individual student issues and data will be analyzed and additional training will be provided.

       Over the next three-plus years, BRI will be working with an outside evaluation team, to be selected, to conduct a longitudinal study of this project.  If it is determined that the project has increased significantly the academic skills of the students in the schools with which BRI is working, then BRI intends to work to have the State of Mississippi expand this project to reach other under-performing schools.

        BRI believes that quality preK experiences are vital to the development of preliteracy skills, particularly for the at-risk population that BRI primarily serves. Therefore, in cooperation with private funders from around the state, BRI and others have formed Mississippi Building Blocks (MBB), which is a 3- to 4-year project started in 2009 aimed at improving the quality of private childcare centers.  Mentors will be provided to approximately 33 centers and approximately 100 classrooms that work with over 1,000 children.  In its first year, MBB worked with children under the age of 3; this year and in subsequent years MBB will work with 3- and 4-year-olds. The aim of this work will be to improve classroom environments, teachers' skills, parent relationships, and center business practices, all aimed at strengthening preK children's preliteracy skills.
     Volunteer tutors work with PreK-3 children to enhance fluency and comprehension skills. Those interested in volunteering as a tutor should contact BRI's Jackson office - 601-965-8002. For additional information, look under the Volunteer section of this site.
       In years past, BRI's reading model included funding of 11 faculty at the schools of education at the eight public universities in Mississippi. This implementation was designed to ensure that, upon graduation, teachers will be prepared to implement at least some aspects of the model in their schools. This component of BRI's work was terminated effective July 2004. Nevertheless, BRI continues to work closely with all 15 of the public and private universities and colleges, primarily through the Higher Education Literacy Council. BRI is optimistic that with increasingly rigorous pre-service reading requirements as well as increased cooperation among Mississippi's colleges and universities, graduates will come into school classrooms prepared to teach reading from day one.

      It is crucial that struggling readers be given an opportunity to practice reading.  BRI has therefore invested heavily in enhancing Accelerated Reader programs in the schools in which it is working.  BRI will provide computers, software upgrades, books, significant training, and funding for AR incentives.
      As of the end of last year, over 600,000 books hade been given to the children in the BRI schools as a result of BRI dollars, matching grants from Reading Is Fundamental and the First Book program. BRI has also worked closely with and has helped to fund Donor's Choose, a program that allows donors to locate worthy education projects that they desire to fund.