Does peer assessment promote student learning? A meta-analysis

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing use of peer assessment in classrooms and other learning settings. Despite the prevailing view that peer assessment has a positive effect on learning across empirical studies, the results reported are mixed. In this meta-analysis, we synthesised findings based on 134 effect sizes from 58 studies. Compared to students who do not participate in peer assessment, those who participate in peer assessment show a .291 standard deviation unit increase in their performance. Further, we performed a meta-regression analysis to examine the factors that are likely to influence the peer assessment effect. The most critical factor is rater training. When students receive rater training, the effect size of peer assessment is substantially larger than when students do not receive such training. Computer-mediated peer assessment is also associated with greater learning gains than the paper-based peer assessment. A few other variables (such as rating format, rating criteria and frequency of peer assessment) also show noticeable, although not statistically significant, effects. The results of the meta-analysis can be considered by researchers and teachers as a basis for determining how to make effective use of peer assessment as a learning tool.

Keywords:

• Peer assessment
• effect
• student learning
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Hongli Li, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on applied measurement and quantitative methods in education.

Yao Xiong received a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. She currently works as a computational psychometrician at Imbellus Inc. in Los Angeles, USA.

Charles Vincent Hunter received a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies (concentration in Research, Measurement, Statistics) from Georgia State University. He currently works as a research associate for AdvancED|Measured Progress in Georgia, USA.

Xiuyan Guo received a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. She currently works as an institutional research associate at Emory and Henry College, Virginia, USA.

Rurik Tywoniw is a Ph.D. student in Applied Linguistics at Georgia State University. His research interests include second language assessment, second language literacy, and computational linguistics.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by Spencer Foundation, Grant number: #201700105.