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This study used peer nominations to identify who students ask for help in class. We describe the level of friendship affiliation that students' share with their peer helpers, and their classroom behavior reputations. Participants were 1037 fifth (49%) and sixth (51%) graders with varied gender and ethnic-racial backgrounds (51% girls; 43% White, 29% Black, 6% Hispanic, 6% Asian, 17% multiracial and other). We used multilevel modeling to examine how peer helpers and teachers' help were related to changes in peer help-seeking. Teacher help was related to higher adaptive and lower expedient help-seeking. Peer academic reputation was related to changes in expedient help-seeking. When students asked higher achieving non-friends for help this was positively related to expedient help seeking, whereas this association was weaker among friends and best friends. Teachers need to explain how and when to seek help from peers. High achieving peers can reinforce classmates' requests for expedient help.

We investigated the associations between students' perceptions of their teachers' management of peer relations (TMPR) and two facets of the peer ecology: perceptions of peer support and the behaviors of popular peers (responsibility and rebelliousness). Participants were 1,031 fifth graders nested within 50 elementary school classrooms. Early adolescents in our sample were majority White and varied in socioeconomic status. A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that TMPR was a unique component of adolescents' classroom context. Multilevel modeling indicated that TMPR is positively associated with supportive peer interactions and perceptions that responsible peers are popular. Additionally, TMPR was associated with weaker endorsements that rebellious peers are popular. Findings underscore the importance of teacher practices that are attentive to peer relationships as well as the promise of developing intervention efforts in this area.

The goal of our article is to consider the intersection of the peer ecology and teacher practices for students' academic motivation. We begin by reviewing two perspectives that explain why and how peers matter for students' motivation. First, the quality of peer relationships and interactions provide affordances for "social support." Second, peers are "socializing" agents, so the content of peer interactions matters for the development of students' achievement beliefs, values, and goals. Within each of these theoretical frameworks, we discuss three kinds of peer relationships: friendship, social status, as well as the culture of support and norms that characterize the classroom peer group. Throughout, we consider classroom contextual factors that explain why peer relationships matter for students' motivation and school adjustment. This sets the stage for the key goal of our article, which is to review evidence from the last ten years linking teacher practices to aspects of the classroom peer ecology that are important for students' motivation in school. We conclude with a discussion of implications for educators and important directions for future research.