Peer Assessment in K–12 Contexts

Dear Colleagues,

Much of the research literature on peer assessment focuses on higher education, rather than schools. This Special Issue seeks to address this shortfall.

Rigorous research is needed, but this should also be comprehensible to non-experts such as teachers and school managers. In this Special Issue, we will make efforts to report work which has strong implications for practice in a widely accessible way.

Existing research on peer assessment commonly reports cognitive outcomes, which tend to be stronger for assessors than the assessed; we will take this as a given. Other research on peer assessment has considered the types and role of peer feedback; hence, we will not focus on this here.

Additionally, in higher education, there is considerable work on the use of digital technologies in peer assessment, both to manage the process and provide automated metacognitive prompts or feedback. In this Special Issue, we will seek to generalize this research to the K–12 context, where its use is much less frequent.

Aim and Scope

The Special Issue will thus focus on practical problems in implementing peer assessment in K–12 contexts and potential solutions. However, anecdotal evidence and opinion pieces will not be accepted. Papers with a strong theoretical emphasis will not be entertained, as practitioners are quickly alienated by excess theory. Similarly, literature reviews should focus on the topic being addressed. The bulk of the paper should comprise empirical data and exploration of the practical implications of those data.

We will address issues in both primary/elementary and secondary high schools, but as these contexts are different, contributing authors may focus on just one. Papers on early years or kindergarten would certainly be of interest. Moreover, the papers will mostly address peer assessment in state-funded schools, but an occasional paper based on private schools would be acceptable.

Contributing authors would need to be aware of the differences between schools in terms of socio-economic status, entry populations and resources, and not merely describe peer assessment in well-funded and congenial environments. The international perspective should also be acknowledged, since schools in different countries not only differ in terms of resources, but also in culture and perceptions of the nature of traditional instruction.

Suggested themes may include: acceptance, subject, product, partner matching, training, process, monitoring, evaluation, follow-up and generalization.

The Special Issue will be introduced with a piece from the Guest Editor raising these questions and end with a longer piece from the Guest Editor drawing together the findings from the papers in an attempt to answer at least some of these questions.

I look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions. Best wishes,

Prof. Dr. Keith Topping
Guest Editor

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