This study focused on academic and social correlates of collaborator preferences of African American and White sixth-graders in mathematics classrooms in fall and spring. Students' appraisals of emotional risk were examined as a moderator. Nomination procedures identified collaborator preferences, group affiliations, and social centrality; students self-reported engagement and emotional risk; school records provided achievement scores. Results indicated students preferred group affiliates, but not exclusively, as collaborators. Students with greater centrality, achievement, and engagement received more nominations. In the fall, high achievers received more nominations when appraisals of risk were high; whereas, engaged students whose appraisals of risk were low received more nominations. Results are interpreted in relation to coordinating social and academic factors in peer collaboration.

Three seventh graders, working as a small group in their math class, had a conversation about adding and subtracting integers. The students discussed the challenges they faced in the assigned task.

The invisible hand is a metaphor that refers to teachers’ impact on the classroom peer ecology. Although teachers have the capacity to organize the classroom environment and activities in ways that contribute to students’ social experiences, their contributions are often overlooked in research on students’ peer relations and the development of social interventions. To address this, researchers have begun to focus on clarifying strategies to manage classroom social dynamics. The goal of this article is to consider potential contributions of this perspective for understanding the social experiences of students with disabilities and to explore associated implications for the delivery of classroom-focused interventions to support their adaptation. Conceptual foundations of classroom social dynamics management and empirical research on the peer relationships of students with disabilities are outlined and the potential of the concept of the invisible hand is discussed in relation to other social support interventions for students with disabilities.

Although there have been several advances in the development of evidence-based practices (EBPs) to support students with disabilities, many rural schools struggle to use EBPs. Rural schools may experience challenges that constrain their potential to provide support for the implementation of EBPs. Furthermore, there may be a mismatch between EBPs and the circumstances, resources, and needs of many rural schools. Directed consultation is an intervention support framework designed to adapt the use of EBPs by using local data and stakeholders’ insights to align strategies to the unique features and needs of rural schools, teachers, and students. This article considers the use of directed consultation to support the individualization and intensification of intervention for students with disabilities in rural schools. The establishment of rural research-practitioner partnerships is also discussed with the goal of developing a broad range of directed consultation content and delivery approaches.

This study examined the longitudinal association between teachers' broad attunement to students’ peer group memberships and students’ social centrality and status in early elementary classrooms in a sample of 276 first – third graders and 20 teachers. We further examined the value added when considering teachers' precise attunement to students’ individual peer group affiliates. Social cognitive mapping (SCM) procedures were used to generate and compare students’ and teachers’ reports of peer groups to assess teacher attunement and students’ centrality; peer nominations assessed students’ social preference and popularity. Results indicated early elementary teachers’ attunement is limited. Findings substantiated the value in distinguishing between teachers' broad and precise attunement, indicating that teachers’ broad attunement to peer group memberships is important for popularity, whereas precise attunement to individual students' affiliates matters for centrality. Implications for the contribution of teacher attunement to students’ centrality and status are discussed in relation to teachers’ invisible hand.

Self-determination is essential to promoting successful transitions for students with and without disabilities. Numerous studies have found that positive relationships are central to the ability to be self-determined, thus making relationship building a key area to address to promote successful transitions. This article provides information on strategies, classroom modifications, and curricula that can be used to help students improve their ability to build an increased sense of belonging through positive relationships with others. Strategies are discussed within the context of self-determination to demonstrate how students can increase their ability to establish and maintain positive relationships and their self-determination concurrently.

Teachers depend on positive relationships among students for successful classroom functioning and student success. Instructional practices are optimized, and behavioral disruptions are minimized when students experience productive and supportive relationships with classmates. Across grade levels, students who are accepted and liked by peers are more academically successful and productively engaged in schooling activities, while students who are disliked, unpopular, or victimized suffer academic, emotional, and social adjustment difficulties in school (Rubin, Bukowski, & Laursen, 2009). Moreover, the adjustment difficulty of any individual student has the potential to disrupt classroom functioning as a whole (Stormont, 2001). Beyond the value of positive peer relations for any single student, however, is the importance of a healthy peer ecology among students. Peer ecologies are naturally occurring collectives of students that are defined by children “interacting with, influencing, and socializing one another” (Rodkin & Gest, 2010, p. 4). Teachers’ capacity to engage students academically and behaviorally requires peer ecologies that align with, rather than disrupt or compete with, teachers’ efforts.