Peer Group Connection – High School, offered by the Center for Supportive Schools, provides a lesson-based approach to SEL where 11th and 12th grade students facilitate sessions with 9th grade students. It includes programming for grades 9, 11, and 12 and demonstrated evidence of effectiveness at grade 9. Translations of all program materials are available in Spanish.
Strategies supporting educational equity
Peer Group Connection – High School features strategies for working with bias and customizing for context. This includes training for faculty advisors explicitly focused on unpacking and understanding unconscious bias. Additionally, peer leaders are given resources to adjust and customize activities to best meet the needs of the younger students they are working with.
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- SEL lessons
- Instructional practices
- Relationship building
- SEL generalization
- Shared agreements
- Student voice
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- Adult SEL
- Group structures
- Peer mentoring
- Student Voice
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- Service-learning
- Community volunteer activities
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- Family Intervention Component
- School Involvement
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- Onsite in-person training
- Virtual training
- Offsite training
- Train the trainer model
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- Administrator support
- Coaching
- Technical assistance
- Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
- Online resource library
- Self-report tools for monitoring implementation
- Observational tools
- Tools for measuring student success
Evidence of effectiveness
Results from a randomized controlled trial evaluation conducted in the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 academic years (unpublished report written in 2021) supported the effectiveness of Peer Group Connection -High School for high school students. This evaluation included 1,260 grade 9 students in rural school districts in the U.S. Southeast region (43% white, 36% Black/African American, 12% Hispanic/Latinx; 70% of student body eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) at participating schools). This evaluation found that students receiving instruction using Peer Group Connection -High School showed significantly greater growth in student-report school attachment and educational expectations compared to students in the control group (outcomes reported approximately nine months after baseline, while controlling for outcome pre-test and relevant demographic covariates).
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Evidence shown in grades 9School characteristics -
- Rural
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- Southeast
Student characteristics - Black / African American
- Hispanic / Latinx
- White
- Low income
Percentage Low Income - Eligible for FRPL: 70%
Study design type - RCT
Greater than 350 students included in study design type - Yes
Multiple school districts included at study design type - Yes
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- Improved academic performance
- Reduced emotional distress
- Improved identity development and agency
- Reduced problem behaviors
- Improved school climate
- Improved school connectedness
- Improved social behaviors
- Improved teaching practices
- Improved other SEL skills and attitudes
How does Peer Group Connection – High School support SEL implementation across multiple settings?
“Peer Group Connection–High School is a cross-age, peer-to-peer group mentoring program to support the transition from middle to high school for 9th grade students, and develop socioemotional learning skills across high school. Educators receive training to prepare older students to provide mentorship and SEL support to younger students. The program model involves families through evening events. ”
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