Research confirms the positive effect of collaborative learning environments when students are considered as one homogeneous group. Little has been done to provide a detailed view of the performance of subgroups of students within collaborative settings. This quantitative and longitudinal study uses survey responses to explore differences in the variables of social self-efficacy (SSE) and leadership relative to each other, different academic performance levels, and across two academic years in a cohort of undergraduate students. Analysis showed no relationship between either sex or race and academic performance. However, results confirm that there is a positive relationship between SSE and grades, and that leaders have a higher SSE than followers. Results also show that SSE improves for leaders, but no evidence for such improvement for followers. We conclude that in collaborative learning environments, high SSE and leadership are important components in student achievement and should be considered when designing curricula.