Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning

Peer supports really work: they're a great, efficient way to help all students learn, make the most of teacher/ paraprofessional time, and increase the achievement level of challenging students. This is the concise, practical guide every middle and high school needs to implement peer support strategies—including cooperative learning and peer tutoring—to benefit students with moderate to severe disabilities and their peers.

With this reader-friendly, step-by-step planning guide from the foremost authorities on peer supports, educators, paraprofessionals, and other school staff will

• discover how peer supports are a "two-way street," boosting the academic outcomes, social skills, and self-esteem of students with disabilities and the peers who support them
• determine which students might benefit most from peer supports
• recruit and match the students most likely to form mutually beneficial relationships
• develop effective support plans that promote access to the general curriculum
• work peer supports into IEP goals to meet state and national academic standards
• give students the training and guidance they need to approach their support roles with confidence and enthusiasm
• clarify the responsibilities of everyone involved in a peer support system: students, general and special educators, paraprofessionals and other school staff
• provide peers with constructive ongoing feedback
• extend peer supports to school activities and extracurricular events
• evaluate the social and academic impact of peer support arrangements

A complete, start-to-finish guide to peer supports, this book is packed with photocopiable planning, implementation, and evaluation tools; evidence-based strategies; and vignettes that illustrate successful peer supports.

With this must-have book on one of the hottest topics in inclusive education, educators and paraprofessionals will create schools where all students—with and without disabilities—help each other reach their academic goals, make new friends, and live full and meaningful lives.