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Peer Supports Research-Based Case Study
Introduction:
Successful inclusion of students with disabilities in general education
classroom requires a variety of supports. Peer supports have been shown to
benefit students with disabilities greatly. Peer support has grown in popularity
and influence over recent years. The purpose of this case study was to
understand and describe the benefits of peer support to the general education
students. At this stage in the research, peer supports will be defined as
intervention strategies involving the arranging of one or more peers without
disabilities providing ongoing social and academic support to their classmates
with disabilities while receiving guidance and support from paraprofessionals,
special educators, and/or general educators. How do middle-school age general
education students perform in an inclusion setting when peer supports are used?
My hypothesis is that general education students perform better when put into a
situation that involves peer supports. Through doing this study I hope to learn
what role peers can play in supporting each other and how this benefits all
students’ especially general education students. This is an important topic for
me because my future plans include becoming a classroom teacher. As a
classroom teacher I will want the best outcomes for all of my students not just the
ones who are able to fit the mold. By researching how the performance of
general education students in impacted by the use of peer supports in an
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inclusion setting I will be able to better serve and guide students. There are a
variety of peer support programs out on the market and they all have different
strategies but when it comes down to it all of them show results of students
performing better when peer supports are used. By providing the research
showing that students perform better in an inclusion setting when peer supports
are used the education field will benefit. Teachers will have more confidence in
using them knowing that research shows that peer support programs work. The
methodology behind this study includes interviews of teachers (core subject
teachers, paraprofessionals as well as special education teachers), surveys, a
collection of student assessment data and classroom observations. In my own
experience peer support programs have positive benefits for all students.
Conceptual Framework:
The existing literature supports my hypothesis that general education
students benefit when peer supports are used in an inclusion setting. Erik Carter
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has done extensive research on the
topic of peer supports. “Peer support arrangements are emerging as a
recommended alternative to the extensive reliance on one-to-one, adult delivered
supports” (Carter, Sisco, Melekoglu, & Kurkowski, 2007, p. 213). Every article I
read agreed with my hypothesis and for different reasons. An overlapping theme
across all of the literature can best be summarized by Erik Carter, “peers are an
underutilized—but widely available—source of natural support in every school,
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peer support arrangements draw upon the involvement of other classmates to
assist in helping students with disabilities participated more fully in the social and
learning opportunities existing in school life” (Carter, Cushing, & Kennedy, 2008).
One peer support program mentioned in the literature that a few of the
authors touched on is PALS (Peer Assisted Learning Strategies). This is a
program that “allows teachers to accommodate a classroom of diverse learners,
increases response opportunities for students, provides additional time for
positive feedback, increases the amount of time a student is on-task and can
impact positively on academic motivation, achievement and the concurrent
socialization experiences of both students involved” ((McMaster, Fuchs, & Fuchs,
2006). PALS as a whole program has improved the reading achievement of low-,
average-, and high-achieving students. PALS is a program that ranges from
kindergarten through high school and can be modified for each grade level.
“Researchers have reported positive academic and social outcomes of PALS.
Students in PALS classrooms significantly outperformed their control
counterparts in terms of growth on the Comprehensive Reading Assessment
Battery. In another study results indicated that students enjoyed the greater
social acceptance suggesting that PALS has social as well as academic,
benefits” (Parsons & Blake, 2004, p. 2). This correlates with Erik Carter in his
research as well. He stated that “peer support arrangements were associated
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with increased peer interaction and similar or greater levels of academic
engagement” (Carter, Sisco, Melekoglu, & Kurkowski, 2007, p. 214).
The research agrees with my hypothesis. As a future teacher this makes
me feel good. I still feel that there is some stuff missing from the existing
literature. It seemed as if there was a lot of emphasis on what peer supports
could be, and then the arrangements of them but not a lot on student
assessment data showing the benefits of peer supports.
Research Methods:
In order to answer my research question I decided it would be necessary
to conduct interviews with teachers that actually use peer supports in their own
classrooms as well as support teachers who have been a part of the process.
Because the research was done in a short period of time I was able to interview
two people but didn’t feel as that was a good sample so I also thought it was
essential that I conduct a survey to gather more thoughts and information.
Classroom observations were also a critical part of my research. My research
topic asked how students perform, so it was important that I get some actual
observations of peer supports in action. Also because I wanted to know the
outcomes of peer supports on general education students that were in an
inclusion setting I looked at some student assessment data.
During the interview process for my data collection I was able to interview
a special education teacher as well as a general education teacher. The special
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education teacher is a male who has been in the education field for three years.
The general education teacher is a female who is in her first year in the field. The
general education teacher is a close friend of mine who we have collaborated in
the past on in undergraduate work. The special education teacher is an
acquaintance through a mutual friend who did his undergraduate work outside of
New York State, so he came back with different ideas than the typical NYS
teacher has. I asked both interviewees the same questions and spent about the
same time talking to each of them.
I sent a survey of six questions out to ten different professionals. I thought
ten would be a good sample size in hopes that at least half would respond. The
survey consisted of short response answers regarding peer supports. The survey
allowed for opinion but also questioned the participant’s knowledge.
The classroom observations I did took place in a variety of settings, due
simply to the fact that I am a substitute teacher and had the opportunity to see a
lot being done in a short time frame. I was able to observe a first grade
classroom for an entire week that uses peer support. Also I was able to observe
a fifth grade as well as a seventh grade class that incorporate peer supports into
class as well.
The student assessment data that I used was from last year. During my
undergraduate student teaching I had the opportunity to be a part of an inclusion
eighth grade English Language Arts class that incorporates peer supports on a
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weekly basis. The student assessment data I collected was from a top
performing general education student as well as a borderline general education
student in the same class.
The arrangement of data analysis will be put into a table so I can easily
compare results of the surveys as well as information from the interviews. The
questions asked in the interview were just the questions asked on the survey but
more in-depth and in person so that data can all be compared to each other. The
data collected will be organized by each person as well as a by each question
asked.
My own research questions and methods compare with the questions
asked and methods used by the authors in my literature review in that mine were
more interview and survey based. The authors in my literature review did more
observations and being out in the field. Also because this is just the beginning of
research I was not able to conduct in-depth research studies like the others of my
literature review were able to do.
Preliminary Results:
General education students in inclusion settings when peer supports are
used benefit greatly. Both the literature review as well as my own research point
to benefits of peer supports for general education students. From my own data
collection I learned that everyone has a different view of what peer supports are.
Two definitions of peer supports as provided by my data are “every students
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bringing their own individual gifts and talents into the classroom to help and
encourage others, adding to the overall learning experience of the students, and
providing a positive classroom atmosphere” and “strategies that require peers to
act as instructional agents for their fellow peers in the classroom.” Because
people see peer supports in different ways that became an issue when
organizing my data. Another issue I came across while analyzing my data
findings was the backgrounds of the sample I interviewed and surveyed. My
findings may be bias in that none of the teachers involved in the study were over
the age of thirty, they were all younger teachers. Also the participants’
backgrounds may have influenced their perspectives. At the time that research
was completed I had only received two of the ten surveys back so my data was
only collected from four participants.
While observing the different classrooms I noticed that they followed along
with the findings in my literature review. One of the most important aspects I felt
to peer supports is the arrangement of students in the class. “Peers can be quite
adept at supporting their classmates and that a number of academic and social
benefits are available to participating students” (Carter, Cushing, & Kennedy,
2008, p. 21). The first grade class had the desks arranged in pairs, and the
teacher had the pairs matched up so they could support each other. She had it
so that the three rows of pairs could all support each other. The other two
classrooms I did observations in the teacher would group the students in support
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groups for class work and projects based on abilities. Also students sat in
groups so they were able to support each other.
Conclusions:
I feel that there is still a lot of research to be done on this topic. Through
my data I can conclude that although some teachers are using what they think
are peer-supports there needs to be more training out there so that peer supports
can be more widely used. Like Carter said, peers are underutilized. I do believe
there are benefits of peer supports for GENED students. I feel peer supports
increase motivation because they feel they are part of the classroom as a whole
and are contributing to their peers’ success as well as theirs. They are also
working on developing higher order skills such as analyzing, synthesizing, and
applying content area information. This is valuable to themselves and their lower
ability peers because the providing modeling for the entire class. Also each
student gets to use their individuality to better the learning experience. When
students work together and collaborate and support each other they feed off of
one another, therefore, adding to the positive dynamics of the classroom.
Like previously stated this study may be biased against the age population
of the teachers that participated. All data sources were from new teachers rather
than seasoned veterans. Therefore, my data can be generalized to be the view of
teachers that have been in the field for less than five years. I also believe that
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although my results may be biased this is the view of teachers that will be
teaching tomorrows future.
My results support the course material. Through the course we have
discussed how important inclusion is and how all students benefit from inclusion.
My research is a small part of inclusion but follows along with the fact that all
students can benefit from it. As a teacher I could apply my results and
conclusions in my own classroom by taking advantage of peer supports. By
knowing the types of peer support programs and how to utilize them for the best
benefits all students could get something out of them. After doing the research
and literature review I have found the importance of peer supports and believe
that if all teachers knew how beneficial they were peer supports would be utilized
more across the board.
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References
Bond, R., & Castagnera, E. (2006). Peer Supports and Inclusive Education: An
Underutilized Resource. Theory Into Practice, 45(3), 224-229.
Carter, E. W., Cushing, L. S., & Kennedy, C. H. (2008). Peer Support Strategies
for Improving All Students’ Social Lives and Lerning. Paul H. Brookes
Publishing Co.
Carter, E. W., Cushing, L. S., & Kennedy, C. H. (2008, March/April). Promoting
Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships Through Peer Support Interventions .
TASH Connections, 20-23.
Carter, E. W., & Kennedy, C. H. (2006). Promoting Access to the General
Curriculum Using Peer Support Strategies. Research & Practice for
Persons with Severe Disabilities, 31(4), 284-292.
Carter, E. W., Sisco, L. G., Melekoglu, M. A., & Kurkowski, C. (2007). Peer
Supports as an Alternative to Individually Assigned Paraprofessionals in
Inclusive High School Classrooms. Research and Practice for Persons
with Severe Disabilities , 32(4), 213-227.
ChildLine. (2008). Every school should have one: How peer support schemes
make schools better (J. Carpentieri, Ed.). London: NSPCC.
Downing, J. (2006). On Peer Support, Universal Design, and Access to Core
Curriculum for Students With Severe Disabilities: A Personnel Preparation
Perspective. Research & Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities,
31(4), 327-330.
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McMaster, K. L., Fuchs, D., & Fuchs, L. S. (2006). Research on Peer-Assisted
Learning Strategies: The promise and limitations of peer-mediated
instruction. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 22, 5-25. doi:10.1080/
10573560500203491
Parsons, M., & Blake, S. (Eds.). (2004, November). spotLIGHT briefing.