Grade Peer Research Articles

Studying how social relationships affect peer assessment in an E-learning environment

AbstractPeer assessment has been widely studied as a replacement for traditional evaluation, not only by reducing the professor’s workload but mainly by benefiting students’ engagement and learning. Although several works successfully validate its accuracy and fairness, more research must be done on how students’ pre-existing social relationships affect the grades they give their peers in an e-learning course. We developed a Moodle plugin to provide the platform with peer assessment capabilities in forums and used it on an MSc course. The plugin curated the reviewer set for a post based on the author’s relationships and included rubrics to counter the possible interpersonal effects of peer assessment. Results confirm that peer assessment is reliable and accurate for works with at least three peer assessments, although students’ grades are slightly higher. The impact of social relationships is noticeable when students who do not like another colleague peer grade their work consistently lower than students with whom they have a positive connection. However, this has little influence on the final aggregate peer grade. Our findings show that peer assessment can replace traditional evaluation in an e-learning environment where students are familiar with each other.

Supporting Knowledge and Language Acquisition of Secondary Emergent Bilinguals through Social Studies Instruction

AbstractThis study examined the initial efficacy of World Generation (WorldGen), a Tier I social studies instructional approach for emergent bilingual (EB) students and their native English‐speaking (non‐EB) peers in Grades 6 and 7. WorldGen builds on prior research on instructional practices that have been associated with improved content knowledge and literacy outcomes for EBs in classes of students with varying English proficiency. Using a within‐teacher design, middle grades world history teachers' classes were randomly assigned to WorldGen treatment (17) or comparison conditions (16) for three to four approximately two‐week units. The student sample included 42% EBs. Students in the treatment condition (n = 373) scored higher, on average, on world history content (Hedges' g = 0.47) and vocabulary knowledge (Hedges' g = 0.41) than students in the comparison condition (n = 343) but no statistically significant findings were yielded regarding disciplinary literacy skills at the end of WorldGen instruction. Of primary interest, the statistically significant main effects indicated that world history content knowledge and vocabulary learning was similar for both current EB and non‐EB students in the treatment condition. The findings provide initial support for the use of the WorldGen instructional practices for improving content acquisition and vocabulary in general education social studies classes with students with a range of English proficiency. Furthermore, teachers perceived the WorldGen instructional practices and materials as providing the information and learning experiences necessary to support students in meeting grade‐level expectations.

Can peers help sustain the positive effects of an early childhood mathematics intervention?

Our study assessed whether the peer environment in kindergarten and first grade affected student learning following an early mathematics intervention. We leveraged longitudinal data from a cluster-RCT to examine whether math achievement in kindergarten (n = 1,218) and first grade (n = 1,126) was affected by either the share of high-achieving classmates or the proportion of classroom peers who received a preschool math curriculum intervention. Analyses indicated that exposure to treated peers in first grade, but not kindergarten, was significantly associated with small gains in end-of-year achievement. Some analyses also suggested that average peer math achievement was positively related to children's kindergarten and first-grade achievement across conditions, though these results were less robust. We did not find consistent evidence to suggest that the proportion of treated peers coincided with better teaching practices. Taken together, these findings suggest that classroom peer effects may play only a limited role in sustaining early intervention effects.

Assessing knowledge of English verb placement and subject-verb agreement among multilingual students in grades 5–7 in Norway

Abstract This study investigates knowledge of English verbal morphosyntax among multilingual students and their L1 Norwegian peers in grades 5–7 in Norway. L1 Norwegian speakers have previously shown transfer from Norwegian to verb placement or subject-verb agreement in L2 English, but their multilingual peers may have an advantage in acquiring these properties in L3 English due to their knowledge of other languages. A written test examining verb placement in verb-second (V2) contexts and subject-verb agreement was used to compare L1 Norwegian students with their multilingual peers, who spoke a variety of different L1s in the home. The results showed that the difference in mean scores alone was not significant between the L1 Norwegian group and the multilingual group, but when grade level and academic achievement were controlled for, linguistic group membership did significantly predict better performance by the multilingual group for some, but not all, grammatical conditions examined.

Project OCCAMS: A Five-Year, Collaborative Intervention of an Online Intensive, Accelerated, Two-Year Language Arts Program Designed to Address Systemic Disparities Among High Ability Middle School Students

Project OCCAMS (Online Consortium for Accelerating Middle School) developed and piloted an accelerated curriculum through a design-based research approach combining the Integrated Curriculum Model, principles of culturally responsive instructional design, and extensive compacting. The program created a pathway for diverse middle school students to complete a 3-year course of study in English Language Arts (ELA) in only 2 years and enter high school a year advanced of grade peers in language arts. Curricula were developed through collaboration of two university-based gifted education centers and a large urban school district. The program was designed primarily to serve students from subgroups underrepresented in gifted education who demonstrated advanced learning potential but did not yet meet state criteria for formal gifted identification. Evaluation data indicate participating students, as a group, made more rapid achievement gains in language arts than local comparison groups and equal to a comparison group of students formally identified as gifted participating in a regional talent search program. The use of a common online learning platform facilitated implementation by providing forums for collaboration and support among educators at multiple schools and universities and opportunities for continuous observation and data collection and allowed frequent iteration of the curriculum.

AsPeer: Method to Self and Peer Assessment in Large Online Design Classes

Peer and self-assessment open opportunities to scale assessments in online classrooms. This article reports our experiences of using AsPeer- peer assessment system, with two iterations of a university online class. We observed that peer grades highly correlated with staff assigned grades. It was recorded that, the peer grade of all student submissions within the range of instructor grade averaged to 21.0% and that within the next 2 ranges was 49.0%. We performed three experiments to improve accuracy of peer grading. First, we observed grading bias and introduced a data driven feedback mechanism to inform peers of it. Students aided by feedback were mindful and performed grading with better accuracy. Second, we observed that the rubric lacked efficiency in translating intent to students. Simplified guiding questions improved accuracy in assessment by 89% of students. Third, we encouraged peers to provide personalized qualitative feedback along with rating. We provided them with feedback snippets that addressed common issues. 64% of students responded that the snippets helped them to critically look at submissions before rating.

69 BUILDING TOWARDS COMPREHENSIVE GERIATRIC ASSESSMENT (C.G.A.) – A STEP-BY-STEP CPD PROGRAM

Abstract Background The National Clinical Programme for the Older Person (2016) advises Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) as the gold standard for the management of frailty in older people. Over the past three years the Medicine for the Elderly (MedEl) OT service have introduced a number of key quality initiatives as part of a wider Continuous Professional Development (CPD) program to support adherence to the CGA guidelines. These initiatives have focused on implementing staff development and training, and clinical processes to provide OTs with the necessary knowledge, skills and structures to carry out CGA Methods An audit of OT initial assessments was completed in which data pertinent to CGA was collected, this identified poor compliance and led to the re-design of the OT MedEl Staff Grade competencies in line with CGA guidelines. The team In-services and staff grade peer support were also re-designed into cycles based on the key performance domains within CGA such as upper limb and cognition. It was hoped that a more coordinated approach to CPD, beginning with the structures in place would result in improved knowledge and skills to carry out CGA. Results An audit of OT initial assessments was completed in which data pertinent to CGA was collected pre and post in-service cycles. This demonstrated an average increase of 21% across the 9 performance domains. Staff also self-rated their knowledge, skills and confidence in relation to the key performance domains within CGA which demonstrated an average improvement of 12.5%. Conclusion As part of an ongoing iterative testing cycle, a further re-audit of the OT Initial Assessment tool will be completed in the next quarter to ascertain the long-term impact of a coordinated, cohesive CPD program to support sustained implementation of CGA within our service.

Learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of emergency remote instruction on first grade students’ writing: A natural experiment.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the sudden cancellation of in-class instruction for many students around the world presented an unprecedented disruption in children's education. As the COVID-19 pandemic took form, multiple concerns were raised about the potential negative impact on students' learning. The current study examined this proposition for children's writing. We compared the quality of writing, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing of first grade Norwegian students during the COVID-19 pandemic (421 girls, 396 boys), which included emergency remote instruction for almost 7 weeks, with first grade students in the same schools a year before the pandemic began (835 girls, 801 boys). After controlling for variance due to national test scores, school size, proportion of certified teachers, students per special education teacher, school hours per student, student gender, and native language, we found that students attending first grade during the pandemic had lower scores for writing quality, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing than their first grade peers tested a year earlier before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. Implications for policy and instruction as well as future research are presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement In December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus was identified, and it spread across the world quickly causing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, presenting unprecedented challenges for the education of school-age children. This study examined the impact of the pandemic and the temporary 7 week replacement of in class learning with online instruction on the writing of first grade children in Norway. First grade students tested shortly after the end of online instruction displayed a learning loss, having lower scores on measures of writing quality, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing than first grade children from the same schools tested a year earlier before the start of the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Exploring same- and different grade peer interactions among EFL young learners

Abstract Grounded in the sociocultural theoretical framework, this study compared peer interaction among same-grade (similar proficiency) and different grade (different proficiency) pairs in terms of patterns of interaction established and learning opportunities that such interactions afford. The same learners (N = 24) aged between 10 and 12 interacted with the same and different grade partners during common classroom lessons in two EFL classrooms. Findings reveal that grade matched pairs tended to establish patterns of interaction conducive to learning while different grade pairs tended not to. However, the relationship between patterns of interaction and learning opportunities is not clear-cut.

Prevalence Of Behavioural Disorders and Its Correlates Among Adolescents in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka –A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Childhood and adolescence are critical stages of life for mental health. This is a time when rapid growth and development takes place. Half of all mental health conditions start by 14 years of age but most cases are undetected and untreated. Behavioural patterns of adolescents are not much explored in India. In this study, we aim to assess the behavioural pattern and its correlates among adolescents in Karwar of Uttara kannada district, Karnataka. Methodology: It is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted on adolescents studying in Government Pre-University college of Karwar in the month of June and July 2019.The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to assess the mental health status of adolescents. The total difficulties score is used to categorize adolescents as normal (0-15) and high [borderline (16-19) and abnormal (20-40)]. Results: Although majority of adolescents were in the normal range, a significant number of adolescents were in borderline (18.4%) and abnormal (14.1%) SDQ scores. Binary logistic regression analysis shows that use of social media, abnormal emotional grade, conduct grade, hyperactivity grade, peer grade and impact grade were found statistically significant. Conclusion: Significant numbers of adolescents were in high range of SDQ scores and suffered from emotional, conduct, prosocial behaviour and hyperactivity problems.

Reading Trajectories in Elementary Grades: A Longitudinal Analysis

<p style="text-align:justify">Research shows that children's reading proficiency levels in the early grades positively correlate with students' future academic achievement. This study provides the first-ever analysis of reading achievement trajectories for a cohort of students in grades 3 to 5 in 2014–17 in Hawaii schools. Hawaii serves a diverse student population whose characteristics differ in ways often overlooked by standard US racial and ethnic classifications. Our analysis shows that Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students not only start at a lower reading proficiency than their peers in Grade 3, but the achievement gap widens as they move from Grade 3 to Grade 5. Moreover, we find a strong association between students' third-grade performance and reading achievement growth rate above and beyond all other factors in our longitudinal model. The difference in performance patterns between student subgroups across the elementary grades can serve as an accurate baseline for yearly monitoring. In light of our findings, we discuss implications for policy and practice.</p>

Trajectories of Students’ Writing Feedback Attitudes

Students’ acceptance and use of feedback to improve their writing may be influenced by their attitudes toward receiving such feedback. In the present study, we investigated the trajectories of students’ attitudes toward receiving feedback on their writing from teachers and peers in Grades 3–7. Data were collected from 1,071 students in the fall of three consecutive academic years using a cohort-sequential design. Results indicate that students have a generally positive attitude toward receiving writing feedback by both peers and teachers at all grades. However, results of parallel process latent growth modeling suggest that these attitudes decline annually between third and seventh grade. Further, both trajectories seem to shift between fifth and sixth grade, suggesting different processes between Grades 3–5 and Grades 5–7. Finally, female students tended to like receiving feedback from teachers and peers more than their male peers.

COVID-19 school closures and educational achievement gaps in Canada: Lessons from Ontario summer learning research.

The 2020 COVID‐19 pandemic closed most Canadian public schools for six consecutive months between March and September. This paper explores possible impacts of that closure on student achievement. Longstanding research suggests that lengthy periods of time out of school generally create losses of literacy and numeracy skills and widen student achievement gaps. New American studies have attributed sizeable learning losses to the COVID‐19 closures. In lieu of comparable Canadian data, this paper extrapolates from summer learning research to estimate likely shortfalls in literacy and numeracy skills. We draw on data from 14 cohorts of Ontario primary‐grade students collected between 2010 and 2015 in which 3,723 attended summer programs and 12,290 served as controls. Across three plausible scenarios, we use meta analyses and OLS and quintile regression models to predict learning losses of 3.5 and 6.5 months among typically‐performing and lower‐performing students respectively, and achievement gaps that grow up to 1.5 years among same grade peers. After qualifying these predictions, we recommend that provincial ministries offer targeted supplementary programs during the summer and synchronous instruction in the event of future school closures.

Best friends, bad food, and bullying: How students' school perceptions relate to sense of school belonging.

A positive school climate and sense of school belonging can influence students' academic outcomes and wellbeing in desirable ways. However, not enough is known about the aspects of school climate that influence students' feelings of belonging and how gender, ethnicity, and grade may relate to those feelings. Via a self-administered survey, a diverse sample of middle school students (n = 1,226) reported what they perceived as the best parts of their school and the parts most in need of improvement, as well as their sense of belonging. Students' perceptions of their school were aligned with the major areas of school climate: safety, relationships, teaching and learning, and institutional environment. These four areas were found to be predictive of sense of belonging to different degrees, such as listing relationships as needing improvement at the school being associated with lower scores in sense of belonging. Gender and grade were also found to be salient predictors of feelings of belonging, with seventh and eighth graders feeling less belonging than their sixth grade peers and girls having lower sense of belonging than boys. These findings affirm the importance of the school environment in influencing students' feelings of being a part of their school.

Building school community through cross-grade collaborations in art

This qualitative study examines multiple collaborative art experiences across ages and classrooms during two years at a suburban public school in one of the largest school districts in the United States. Students in two middle-school elective art courses engaged in contemporary art education projects to strengthen visual and verbal communication skills as they partnered with younger peers in primary grades, including the following activities: collaborative earthworks, toy designs and mixed-up animal sculptures. These multi-age socially-constructive art experiences provided students with opportunities to build community across campus while interacting with each other and the artwork co-created. Observations and noted responses via reflection from students indicated positive impact on both communication and collaboration through bidirectional teaching and learning, with students in each age group requesting more opportunities for cross-grade collaborative experiences.

A Peer-Delivered Intervention for High School Students With Impairing ADHD Symptoms

This study evaluates a peer-delivered intervention for high school students with impairing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms targeting organization, time management, and planning (OTP) and motivation (Students Taking Responsibility and Initiative through Peer Enhanced Support; STRIPES). A mixed methods open trial (Study 1; N = 18) and parallel group randomized controlled trial (Study 2; N = 72) were conducted to examine acceptability, target mechanisms, student outcomes, population fit, and feasibility. Study 1 established acceptability for STRIPES delivered after school but identified forgetfulness and competing social activities as population-specific implementation barriers. In Study 2, three schools employed unique implementation strategies and results varied. An elective pullout model engaging 12th grade peer interventionists under teacher supervision demonstrated good fidelity, attendance, and population fit and significant between-group differences in book bag organization (d = 1.11), academic motivation (d = 0.85 to 2.05), and class attendance (d = 1.47) over time compared to control. When implementation strategy demonstrates population fit, STRIPES shows promise for preventing declining school engagement across ninth grade.

First and second language vocabulary affect early second language reading comprehension development

The aim of this study was to examine variation in early reading comprehension development for second language (L2) readers compared with first language (L1) readers and to investigate the impact of vocabulary knowledge in their first and second language. Participants were 75 Dutch monolingual children (L1 readers) and 71 Turkish–Dutch bilingual children (L2 readers), aged between 6 and 8 years old at the start of the study. In a longitudinal design, three waves of data were collected across second and third grades. The L2 readers had lower reading comprehension scores than the L1 readers on average, but this performance gap narrowed over time. To further investigate variation among the L2 readers, four categorical subgroups of L2 readers were identified with varying levels of L1 (Turkish) and L2 (Dutch) vocabulary knowledge by means of cluster analysis. Group membership was related to reading comprehension and showed an interaction with time, indicating that reading comprehension performance of the two L2 subgroups with high L1 vocabulary increased more over time compared with L1 readers. The L2 subgroup with high vocabulary in both languages even caught up with their monolingual peers in third grade. These findings demonstrate how individual differences in L1 and L2 vocabulary knowledge explain variation in early L2 reading comprehension development and highlight the importance of considering L2 readers' first language in research and education.

National Identity Development and Friendship Network Dynamics among Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Youth.

The development of peer relationships and of one's identity are key developmental proficiencies during adolescence. Understanding how immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents are developing a sense of their national identity and the role that this plays in how they select their friends and are influenced by their friends is essential for developing a more comprehensive understanding of adolescent development in context. The current study used longitudinal social network analysis to examine the interplay of national identity development and friendship network dynamics among immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents in Greece (N = 1252; 46% female). All youth with higher national identity resolution (i.e., youth's sense of clarity regarding their identity as a member of Greek society) in Grade 8 were more often nominated as a friend in Grade 9. During the transition from 8th to 9th grade, all youth became more similar to their nominated friends in terms of their Greek national identity exploration (i.e., degree to which they had engaged in activities to learn more about Greek society). During the transition from 7th to 8th grade, there was significant variability in peer selection on national identity exploration and resolution between immigrant and non-immigrant youth. Specifically, immigrant youth demonstrated selection effects consistent with notions of homophily, such that they were more likely to nominate peers in 8th grade whose levels of national identity exploration and resolution were similar to their own when in 7th grade. In contrast, non-immigrant youth preferred peers in 8th grade with low levels of national identity exploration (regardless of their own levels of exploration in 7th grade) and peers whose levels of national identity resolution in 8th grade were different from their own in 7th grade (e.g., non-immigrant youth who reported high national identity resolution in 7th grade were more likely to nominate peers who had low national identity resolution in 8th grade). There were no differences by immigrant status in peer influence, suggesting that the significant peer influence effects that emerged during the transition from 8th to 9th grade in which youth became more similar to their friends in national identity exploration may reflect a universal process. These results chart new directions in understanding contemporary youth development in context by showing that adolescents develop their national identity and friendships in tandem and that certain aspects of this process may vary by immigrant status.

They Choose to Attend Academic Summer Camps? A Mixed Methods Study Exploring the Impact of a NASA Academic Summer Pre-Engineering Camp On Middle School Students in a Latino Community

Early exposure to engineering and mathematics career opportunities has been indicated to influence students’ decisions regarding their academic majors and career goals. This study utilized mixed methods to analyze how changes in middle school students’ affective characteristics might be linked to their future career decision-making, following participation in an integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics summer camp. As part of the summer camp, rising sixth- through eighth-grade students attended a weeklong learning experience based on a specific engineering context. Each grade level cohort participated with their same grade peers in a 36-hour, 6-day event focused on sparking their interest in engineering careers and developing their content knowledge in select science and mathematics content areas. Pre-post testing was conducted with 65 students of diverse backgrounds in grades six through eight to measure their self-reported engineering-related self-efficacy, knowledge of engineering careers, and motivation to pursue future engineering classes and careers. In addition, interviews were conducted to examine any changes in middle school camp participants’ affective characteristics of motivation, self-efficacy, and self-determination.

Predicting Chinese Adolescent Internet Gaming Addiction From Peer Context and Normative Beliefs About Aggression: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study.

There has been growing concern over Internet gaming addiction (IGA) around the world. However, the risk factors and mediating mechanisms of IGA in Chinese youth remain largely unknown. A total of 323 Chinese adolescents (52.94% females, M age = 14.83, SD = 0.49, range = 13.50–16.50) completed questionnaires regarding peer victimization, deviant peer affiliation (DPA), normative beliefs about aggression (NBA), and IGA in the fall semester of 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. Structural equation modeling showed that 7th grade peer victimization predicted higher 8th grade DPA, which in turn was associated with enhanced 9th grade NBA, and ultimately, higher 9th grade IGA. In addition, 7th grade peer victimization made a unique contribution to 9th grade IGA through 9th grade NBA. The current study goes beyond previous research by using a 2-year longitudinal design and by taking into account both peer relations and individual cognitions as predictors of IGA. In addition, these findings have practical significance for improving intervention strategies targeting risk factors for adolescent IGA.