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The study outlines evidence-based peer interventions, then summarizes findings from structured interviews with school pilot site coordinators. Reported benefits include increased social interaction and friendships, improved communication and social/IEP goals, greater academic engagement for peer support arrangements, and positive effects on school climate, while also highlighting implementation challenges and plans for continued use in Kentucky.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-qualitative-study-of-the-impact-of-peer-networks-and-peer-support-arrangements-in-project-pilot-schools/584481/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-qualitative-study-of-the-impact-of-peer-networks-and-peer-support-arrangements-in-project-pilot-schools/584481.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"WPS_1786070896","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-05","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What are peer networks and peer support arrangements in these schools?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Peer support arrangements train a small group of peers (typically 2–3) to provide ongoing academic and social support to a student with significant disabilities during classroom activities. Peer networks expand this idea by forming a group of peers (usually three to six) with the student to build social connections and friendships across the school day, supported by staff facilitation.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What evidence-based benefits are reported for students with and without disabilities?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Benefits include more social interaction and friendships, opportunities to practice social and communication skills, and increased achievement of social/communicative IEP goals. Students without disabilities also report new friendships and increased understanding of classmates’ individual differences and support needs.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How was the project evaluated and what did the interviews cover?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The project secured University Institutional Review Board approval and conducted structured phone interviews with site coordinators from 12 pilot schools (8 schools participated; n=9 respondents). Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic content analysis, focusing on perceived benefits, challenges, and plans for continued implementation.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},584481,1793137377,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":19,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":52,"preview_page_count":4},549768072016,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Winter 2018  \nHuman Development Institute • University of Kentucky  \nRESEARCHBRIEF  \nAn update on HDI’s research in the field of developmental disabilities  \nA Qualitative Study of the Impact of Peer Networks and Peer Support Arrangements in Project Pilot Schools  \nPatti Logsdon, Mark Samudre, & Harold Kleinert  \nBackground  \nResearch tells us that making friends can be especially hard for students with significant disabilities. Peer support arrangements and peer networks are evidence-based interventions that involve identifying and equipping a group of peers to provide ongoing support to individual students with significant disabilities in or outside of the classroom. Within inclusive, general education classrooms, peer support arrangements train students (typically 2-3 students) to provide academic and social supports to a student with significant disabilities during ongoing classroom activities.  \nBeyond the classroom, a group of peers (usually three to six) form a peer network together with a student with a significant disability, to help foster social connections and friendships between classes, at lunch, in extracurricular activities, and/or beyond the school day. School staff facilitate these groups to ensure their success. Note that these programs are a step beyond traditional peer tutoring/ peer buddy models that many schools use, in that they include multiple peers to support each focus student and, more importantly, they facilitate learning and friendship outside the special education classroom in inclusive settings in which the students are learning together.  \nMultiple studies, including large-scale, group randomized designs have investigated the power of these interventions for students with significant intellectual disabilities (Asmuset al., 2017; Carter et al., 2016), as well as students with autism spectrum disorder (Carter et al., 2017; Hochman, Carter, Bottema-Beutel, Harvey, & Gustafson, 2015) . Benefits  \nto focus students have included increased opportunities for social interaction and friendships, enhanced opportunities to practice critical social and communication competencies, increased achievement of social/communicative IEP goals (Asmus et al., 2017; Carter et al., 2016; Carter, Moss, Hoffman, Chung, & Sisco, 2011), and in the case of peer support arrangements, increased academic engagement (Carteret al., 2016) . Students without disabilities have reported they themselves have benefitted from being part of a peer network, that they have developed new friendships that sometimes extend beyond regular school activities, and that their understanding of individual differences and sensitivity to the needs of their classmates with disabilities have increased as a result of participating in peer networks and/ or peer support arrangements (Asmus et al., 2017; Carter et al., 2011) .  \nBased on these evidence-based practices, the KY Peer Support Network Project was funded by the Commonwealth Council on Developmental Disabilities (CCDD) in 2014 to work with schools throughout the state in implementing peer networks and peer support arrangements. To determine the overall impact of the project, and develop recommendations for sustaining this work in Kentucky schools, CCDD asked the project to conduct a project evaluation, including structured interviews with school pilot site coordinators. This Research Brief describes the findings of those interviews, as well as the steps that the project is taking to ensure other schools have the tools they need to avail themselves of these practices.  \ncontinued inside  \n\n| Method\u003Cbr>We obtained University Institutional Review Board Approval to conduct structured interviews with site coordinators from our 12 2016-2017 school year project pilot schools. Of the\u003Cbr>12 pilot schools, 8 chose to be interviewed (one school had two respondents; n=9) . Interviews were conducted by two project staff members (2nd and 3rd authors), with staff not interviewing pilot site leaders on their o","cbCaidJx4iIv2oqH","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidJx4iIv2oqH","pdf",100225,"English","# Background\n# Benefits\n# Method\n# Results\n## Benefits","[{\"question\":\"What are peer networks and peer support arrangements in these schools?\",\"answer\":\"Peer support arrangements train a small group of peers (typically 2–3) to provide ongoing academic and social support to a student with significant disabilities during classroom activities. Peer networks expand this idea by forming a group of peers (usually three to six) with the student to build social connections and friendships across the school day, supported by staff facilitation.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence-based benefits are reported for students with and without disabilities?\",\"answer\":\"Benefits include more social interaction and friendships, opportunities to practice social and communication skills, and increased achievement of social/communicative IEP goals. Students without disabilities also report new friendships and increased understanding of classmates’ individual differences and support needs.\"},{\"question\":\"How was the project evaluated and what did the interviews cover?\",\"answer\":\"The project secured University Institutional Review Board approval and conducted structured phone interviews with site coordinators from 12 pilot schools (8 schools participated; n=9 respondents). Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic content analysis, focusing on perceived benefits, challenges, and plans for continued implementation.\"}]","A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Peer Networks and Peer Support Arrangements in Project Pilot Schools | PDF",1792051135]