Chapter 1: Peer Relationships and Adjustment At School: An Introduction

Students and parents streamed towards the schoolhouse doors and clustered in a group on the steps. Anticipation marked their faces as they approached the crowd and made their way to the front. Students emerged every few moments—some with elation and excitement, others with uncertainty and a few with disappointment. There were high fives among some students. Other students were consoled by their parents and friends. Some parents beamed as if they had won the lottery. Other parents looked frustrated.

What was going on? It was only days before the school year began and the principal had just posted the class lists at the elementary school my children attended. Not too far away at the middle school a similar scene was unfolding with parents and students learning their team assignments within their grade. In the United States it is typical each year when children move to the next grade level that they are reassigned to a new class with a different teacher and peer group. At the middle school level they are assigned to a team within their grade that has its own set of teachers and students with whom they will have classes for the year.