Training Resources
Optional self-serve training for student and adult facilitators
Optional: Facilitator training
Facilitator training is how young people and adults co-lead the rollout of Polaris in their school or organization. You don't need it to use Polaris, and you don't need it to get started. It's worth investing in when you want young people more deeply involved in the process itself. Conversations tend to run richer when students help lead them, and the young people involved walk away with real ownership of what the listening turns up. The tradeoff is coordination: recruiting and supporting student facilitators is another piece to plan around alongside everything else.
The full library lives at pd.humanrestorationproject.org, free for any team to use and adapt.
What the training covers
A session runs about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Facilitators come out of it comfortable with:
- Holding a meaningful conversation
- Following up with questions that encourage people to share more
- Using the Polaris app to record and submit an interview
Districts and youth organizations are welcome to adapt the materials. Pull what works and fold it into the professional development or student leadership programs you already run.
How many conversations a facilitator should lead
If a trained facilitator is running the conversations, cap each one at four a day and twelve total. Back-to-back interviews flatten the listening.
The bigger the sample, the more honest the picture you'll get back. Here's what recruitment looks like across different sized schools and organizations:
Facilitators by school or org size
We recommend planning for about five participants in each conversation, and capping each facilitator at twelve conversations total.
100 conversations
300 conversations
800 conversations
On-site or virtual training with our team
If you'd rather not run the training yourself, the Polaris Education team can lead live sessions with students and adults, either on-site at your school or over video. It's an interactive workshop drawing from the same library, with our facilitators in the room (or on the call) running the practice rounds and tailoring the session to your district's context.
This is a paid add-on. The upside is that you're not also responsible for designing and delivering the training as a side project alongside your rollout. Our team handles the facilitation, which means your staff can focus on the rest of the work: recruitment, scheduling, and the listening itself.
If that sounds useful, reach out and we'll scope it to your timeline and budget.
Again, facilitator training is optional. Young people and adults can simply log into Polaris and share their feedback without it.