Peer Resources is at the heart of positive youth development. Trained youth serving in roles such as mentor, tutor, mediator, leader, and educator can change the norms of a school and community. Utilizing people as resources is an important concept to embrace. During the last seven years, peer mentors have reduced the drop-out rate of 16- and…

This paper offers a synthesized review of the literature on student peer facilitator programs, in order to investigate and substantiate many of the ways in which peer facilitator programs extend and strengthen a guidance counselor's mission in the school. After an introductory discussion of the foundations and goals of successful peer facilitator…

A Brigham Young University program using students to provide individual advising and orientation assistance to entering students, an effort to reduce the problem of students accepting admission and not showing up, is described and discussed. (MSE)

Describes the national antismoking campaign in terms of various school projects funded by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, coordinated by its new Office on Smoking and Health. Projects include utilizing peer counselors, demonstrating what smoking does to the body, and showing how to deal with social pressures. (MF)

This report examines five programs that use peer support groups as the key element of their prevention or intervention efforts in preventing or reducing the incidence of substance abuse, school failure, and other problems of adolescence. Chapter 1 provides introductory material. Chapter 2 contains background information on the peer program…

This article provides results about a high school's support for its peer mediation program and the effectiveness of that program. The four subject groups surveyed included faculty, students in eight home room classes, trained student mediators, and students who had used the program to resolve an interpersonal conflict. Individuals directly…

This paper describes Peer Culture Development, Inc., a private, non-profit agency which provides a school-based delinquency prevention program to public schools. The basic components of the program are described along with the selection and role of student leaders in the program. The dynamics of the group meetings are discussed and seven…

This report details the rationale, origins, and practice of peer counseling, a system of training people to help other people through empathy and decision-making. Specific applications are described, with particular attention to involving adolescents as peer counselors. The article illustrates the training model of peer counseling as developed by…

Paraprofessional programs in campus activities not only relieve some of the burdens placed on professionals, but also provide effective peer counseling for students and outstanding development opportunities for the paraprofessionals themselves. Some paraprofessional programs in student activities are described. (MLW)