Thrively

I am a high school counselor and a parent. I am disappointed and frustrated that Thrively uses Critical Race Theory in "Resources Related to Difficult Conversations" content. I do not have the right to teach students this content as I am not their parent. It is controversial and racist against whites. Thrively should teach inclusivity without dividing students by race. The sentiment that we are all individuals and have more in common then not, is much more of a powerful and effective strategy.

I'm a teacher. My district purchased a Thrively plan. I just sent this review to my adminstrators: I am concerned that they sent out Dr. Seuss content instead of anything related to Black History Month. This put my feelers up. Then, when I took the strengths assessment, I noticed 58/71 of the people in pictures were white. Only one picture had a Black family with dark skin. I emailed the company about both of these concerns. I noticed that in their entire team of staff, doctors, advisors, and ambassadors not one Latino or African American is present on their website. I tried to use the tool with my students anyway. I had my 7th graders take the Strengths Assessment last week. Today, I began working an assignment to have the students reflect on their results. I just hit an even bigger concern, when the students click on their top strengths, there is a link that reads "Activities to build on this strength." I expected this to take them to lessons within Thrively. Instead, it takes them to a curated feed of advertisements for in-person courses they can purchase. Most of the ones it showed me were for very expensive classes in Orange County. I also remembered that when the students' signed up, it asked them for a parent email. Now I see why, it seems this entire tool is a sales funnel to get students and their families to become customers for the companies they advertise. I did a little digging and found this from CommonSense Media: "Thrively's suggestions often involve classes, workshops, and other events in a kids' area -- many of which cost money to attend, which could be a barrier to some families. (There's a bit of educational content that you can find directly on the site, which is cool, though offline activities are the real focus here.)" If they were truly, trying to help our students find activities, they would be promoting things like visiting local libraries or Lake Perris. I do not feel comfortable subjecting my students to advertisements that are very out of their reach--by geographic location and expense. I am pretty sure the district purchased a plan and it blows my mind that a paid plan would involve showing the kids advertisements. Also, my gut tells me they are using the students' data to refine the quality of their plan to market to parents. This makes me very uncomfortable. I can see the appeal of Thively and why it was purchased and presented to us. I like the idea of being able to access SEL lessons and see my students' goals. However, using this tool is quietly delivering the message that our kids are not good enough to be even represented in pictures. It is also reminding them that they do not have enough money to follow the recommendations provided by the app.