It’s Black History Month, and to celebrate, PeerForward is taking the time to highlight a Black changemaker in the education field who is very familiar to some of our Peer Leaders: Dr. Carletta Marrow, Ed.D! Dr. Carletta Marrow, Ed.D serves as the Associate Superintendent of Prince George’s County Public School System. She is no stranger to the education field. Prior to her current role, she acted as a high school principal, assistant principal, and middle school English teacher. She also boasts multiple impressive degrees, including a B.A in English from Virginia State University, a M.A in Special Education from American University and a doctoral degree in Educational Administration from Nova Southeastern University.
We caught up with her to discuss the impact PeerForward has had on the schools in the Prince George’s County Public School System over the years.
You’ve been with Prince George’s County Public Schools for a while now, and you have seen firsthand the impact that PeerForward has had on the schools in your district. What do you think the importance is of having a program like this available for students?
PeerForward is very impactful to our students. I think just the name alone, PeerForward, is really important. What I’ve seen over the years is the growth of the program within our school district. The PeerForward program allows us to use the students to actually educate other students, and who do they listen to the most? Their peers! That’s the big impact that we’re seeing with PeerForward and why it’s so important to have. Our students can get to our other students easier than we can as adults. As the number of Peer Leaders grows in any one school, we can utilize the PeerForward campaign model for our other students, so that’s very impactful as well.
When we look at the data, we have seen continuous growth in the numbers and continuous growth in our partnerships as well to increase not only the PeerForward perspective of college but looking through the CTE lens as well.
What do you think sets PeerForward Peer Leaders apart from other student leaders?
I think what sets them apart is they receive training to prepare them to be Peer Leaders. It’s not a one-stop shop. They get ongoing training, and then their advisors ensure they’re implementing what they learn. PeerForward develops leaders by bringing out what’s already in them through the training and development. That’s what you see with our PeerForward Peer Leaders. Because they are getting additional training and support, they can do what’s needed for their peers’ benefit.
What are your hopes for this year and the next year’s generation of Peer Leaders?
I hope that what our current Peer Leaders are learning, they’re able to transfer to the next generation of Peer Leaders to increase their output in terms of all the different campaigns. I also hope to see them using their knowledge to build the capacity of students within their school. I think that’s a big piece that I would love to see from those who are Peer Leaders. Of course, we as educators must be willing to let our Peer Leaders be creative and use their knowledge and expertise. Some of the ideas they have, we as adults would’ve never thought about. They know how to reach their peers.
Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.
