Peer support programs enable ...

1. b. the general education teacher to provide additional assistance in individualizing instruction for students with disabilities within increasingly diverse classrooms.

Having peer supports in the classroom helps teachers differentiate instruction for learners of different abilities without having to significantly restructure instruction for the whole class.

Specifically, teachers have found peers are quick to notice when their partners are doing work that does not resemble their own, and the peers can be extremely creative at brainstorming ways to adjust activities so that everyone can participate. When peers learn basic instructional and support stratgies as part of initial orientation activities, they can be quite adept at helping their partners stay engaged and acquire new skills.

2. e. the student with disabilities to learn new social and communication skills, and experience a greater sense of belonging and class membership.

	What are peer support programs? Peer support programs involve arranging for one or more peers without disabilities to provide ongoing social and academic support to their classmates with disabilities while receiving guidance and support themselves. The role of paraprofessional often shifts from providing one-on-one support to overseeing and facilitating peer interaction between the students. Peer support arrangements often contain a service-learning component.

A plethora of studies have documented how students with disabilities benefit socially when they receive support from their peers. Students interact more frequently with classmates and access a greater variety of social supports—such as information, help with materials, emotional support, and companionship—when working with a peer.

Studies have further shown that students with disabilities are more engaged in class activities and have greater access to instructional content aligned with the general curriculum when they receive primary support from a peer.

3. c. the special education teacher to increase the number of people in the classroom watching to make sure that the curriculum is appropriately adapted, needed materials are available, and ongoing activities match those of other students in the classroom.

Special educators find that peers help their partners participate in class activities, prompt them to stay on task, and provide needed assistance.

4. f. the student without disabilities to receive more individualized attention, academic help, and praise from adults in the classroom (and in some cases service-learning credits).

Research suggests that peer support strategies provide important academic benefits to peers. A study of student peers who were themselves struggling academically showed the peers substantially increased their engagement in instruction, homework assignment completion, and classroom participation. Notably, students at risk for school failure often show improvements of one to two letter grades over the course of a semester when serving as a peer support.

Peers also benefit socially when they work with their classmates with disabilities. Through working with their partners, peers expand their own social networks, learn valuable social and support skills, and develop new friendships.

One interesting note: Peers' interactions with students with disabilities tend to be fairly reciprocal and balanced across both academic and social domains, easing concerns that such arrangements necessarily encourage primarily tutorial or hierarchical relationships. Indeed the reciprocal nature of these benefits highlights the value of these intervention strategies for all students.

5. a. the administrator to meet accountability mandates for improving access to rigorous, relevant learning experiences for all students.

Administrators play a vital role in determining whether an educational practice becomes a permanent part of a school's culture. Peer support arrangements help administrators:

• ensure students have improved access to curricular content
• enhance educational outcomes for all students
• align school practices with school reform efforts and legislation related to inclusion
• improve the school climate by supporting practices that foster a cohesive school community

6. the paraprofessional to assume a better defined role that includes overseeing and facilitating peer support interaction.

Making use of peer supports to meet mandates

Recent legislative, research, and school reform efforts are calling on schools to think differently about where students with disabilities should spend their school days, what they should be expected to learn, and who they should learn it with.

These efforts call for every student to have meaningful opportunities to learn important curricular content; to develop valued relationships with their classmates; and to experience the full range of social, learning, and other opportunities that exist within their schools and communities.

While administrators, teachers, and other school staff are likely familiar with mandates requiring improved student outcomes and inclusion, they may not be aware of how much peer supports can help them meet them.

Start a peer support program in your school... Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning MORE INFO >> Peer Buddy Programs for Successful Secondary School Inclusion MORE INFO >>