Mar 4, 2019
Kristina talks with Keith Frome, the co-founder and CEO of PeerForward and Gary Linnen, Managing Director for Program Innovation and Operations, about the history and mission of PeerForward, which in its original incarnation (College Summit) was founded on the principle that the most influential person to a 17-year-old was another 17-year-old. The guests discussed the Youth Activation Summit, which PeerForward produced last summer along with Facebook. The summit, in which school districts from all across the country participated, was designed to help schools solve a wide assortment of issues, including grading policies and bullying, which could be solved through the power of positive peer influence, support, and guidance. In one case, it resulted in a lively discussion of possible solutions to a high school bullying problem, which ultimately resulted in a mayor implementing a “kindness” day around what happened at the summit. PeerForward also is now involved in the peer influence for vulnerable college students. The bottom line of PeerForward training is that instead of seeing students as problems to be solved, students should be viewed as problem solvers. This episode was sponsored by PeerForward, www.peerforward.com, Curriculum Associates, www.curriculumassociates.com; NWEA, www.nwea.org, and Better Lesson, https://betterlesson.com.