High-ability Peers Research Articles

Does cream-skimming curdle the milk? A study of peer effects

The determinants of education quality remain a puzzle in much of the literature. In particular, no one has been able to isolate the effect of the quality of a student's peers on achievement. I identify this by considering the introduction of a magnet school into a school district. The magnet school selects high quality students from throughout the school district, generating plausibly exogenous variation in the quality of classmates remaining to those students in the regular schools. I find that the loss of high ability peers lowers the performance of low-scoring students remaining in regular schools.

Atitudes of Suburban High School Students Toward Behaviors Associated With High-Achieving Peers: Development and Validation of the Peer Assessment Scale

The primary purpose of the present study was to investigate the acceptance of high school students (Grades 9-12) of the behavioral characteristics associated with high-ability peers. A secondary purpose was to develop an attitude instrument to assess this acceptance, the Peer Assessment Scale (PAS). The procedures used to develop the instrument and the results obtained from the pilot of the instrument in three Connecticut high schools are described. Factor analysis identified the two behavioral characteristics supported in the literature and identified by the judges in the content validity stage: (a) an Academic factor and (b) a Social/Emotional factor. Results indicated that females were significantly more accepting of the behaviors associated with Factors 1 and 2, as were students who reported themselves to be above average in scholastic ability. Although there were no significant differences among females of average and above average ability at each grade level with respect to the social and emotional behaviors associated with high-ability peers, above average males in Grades 10, 11, and 12 were significantly more accepting of the aforementioned behaviors than their above average counterparts in Grade 9.

Peer Acceptance and Self Concept of Black Students in a Summer Gifted Program

Few studies have investigated the social and emotional adjustment of high ability black youth in gifted programs. In the present study, thirty-five high ability black students (ages 9 to 15) who were attending a predominantly white university summer enrichment program were compared to their white peers on multiple measures of peer acceptance, self-concept, and teacher ratings of academic self-esteem, as well as background measures of academic achievement and social status. Overall, results suggest that, despite some differences in achievement and social status: 1) high ability black students are accepted by other high ability peers; and 2) high ability black students are comparable in self-concept and academic self-esteem to their white peers. One implication of these findings is that educators can encourage greater involvement of high ability black students in summer enrichment programs.

Fostering Comprehension Monitoring in below Average Readers through Self-Instruction Training

The benefits of self-instruction training on the comprehension monitoring performances of below average and above average readers were examined. Fourth- and fifth-grade students were tested on their ability to detect between-sentence contradictions in short expository texts after receiving either three sessions of self-instruction or equivalent didactic instruction. Additionally, generalization was assessed on text passages different from those employed during training and on postreading monitoring measures. A significant self-instruction effect was found for both reading ability levels on all of these measures. Moreover, the below average readers performed at a level commensurate with their higher ability peers on the transfer measures. It was concluded that self-instruction training was successful in enhancing student's regulatory processing during reading.