Edina Middle School Becomes Model for How Peer Groups Can Help Special Education Students
October 25, 2019
By: Erin Golden
Source: Star Tribune
In one corner of Edina’s South View Middle School, each day starts with a lesson in friendship.
There are no specific directions or assignments. But there are board games, time for conversation, and most important, an opportunity for kids who would once have lived very separate lives at school to get to know each other.
South View’s Peer Insights program pairs students in special education with their general-education peers, opening lines of connection that extend throughout the school day — and beyond. The middle schoolers sit side by side in the classroom and the lunch table, come together for special events like a dance marathon or the homecoming parade, and hang out on the weekend.