Peer Power

Peer Power is a non-profit organization that recruits and trains high-performing college students, called Success Coaches, to tutor in public school classrooms and mentor high school students to encourage active learning, valuing education, and being personally accountable for their futures. A successful entrepreneur and dedicated philanthropist, East High School graduate Charlie McVean founded the program in December 2004 to address poor performance in Memphis’s public schools. Combining an incentive-based compensation model with the influential effects of peer groups, he launched his unique student-to-student tutoring method at East. The program was an immediate success and swiftly evolved into Peer Power. After a decade, Peer Power streamlined its strategy and enhanced the methods demonstrated to be most effective. This process culminated in the Memphis Model, a partnership between Peer Power, the University of Memphis and Shelby County Schools, that recruits high-performing college students known as Success Coaches to tutor public high school students in the classroom. This model improves grades, standardized test scores, and college and job readiness. In addition to academic benefits, Peer Power provides an opportunity for college students to gain job experience and the financial means to stay in school. The Memphis Model incorporates Success Coaches in the classroom, with a goal to reduce the student-to-adult ratio from 1:30 to about 1:10. This lower student-to-adult ratio improves the job satisfaction and performance for full-time teachers, leading to higher job satisfaction and retention of valuable teachers.