Numerous studies in recent decades have shown that teacher feedback significantly influences the sociometric choices of students by their classmates. Most of these studies refer to social referencing theory, which suggests that the teacher's emotional communication expressing sympathy or antipathy toward the feedback-receiving student influences…

Fifty years of research has found great potential for peer assessment as a pedagogical approach. With peer assessment, not only do students receive more copious assessments; they also learn to become assessors. In recent decades, more educational peer assessments have been facilitated by online systems. Those online systems are designed…

Current issues in the use of peer assessment techniques and sociometric methods are discussed. Attention is paid to the contributions of the four articles in this volume. Together these contributions point to the continual level of change and progress in these techniques. They also show that the paradigm underlying these methods has been unchanged…

Establishing a positive peer climate in elementary school classrooms is an important goal for educators because peer dynamics are thought to affect academic learning. Thus, it is important to: (1) understand the relationship between children's peer dynamics and academic functioning; and (2) identify teacher practices that influence both peer…

This study examined the peer nominations of 213 children in Kindergarten (90), 3rd grade (58), and 5th grade (65) to examine their perceptions of peers who received pull-out services for unique needs. Using Coie, Dodge, and Coppotelli's [1982. "Dimensions and Types of Social Status: A Cross-age Perspective." "Developmental…

Discussions are commonly used in online teaching and have been shown to foster student learning and collaboration. This case study uses content analysis to explore the interaction patterns of student online discussions during a semester-long teacher preparation course using concepts from sociometry. Findings suggest that interaction patterns were…

Explored the sociometric status of orthopedically handicapped (OH) high school students in mainstreamed classrooms. OH students (N=29) were compared with classmates on the Peer Rating Scale (PRS). Results either reflected liking for OH students or an inability on the part of peers to express negative feelings toward OH students. (BH)

To date, the assessment methodology in the area has moved in two directions: sociometric measures (peer nomination and peer rating scales), which have provided the major means of identifying the socially competent child; and direct observation, principally employed in the specification of socially competent behaviors. (Author/DLS)

Screening for giftedness, grouping for cooperative learning, discovering special abilities, and designing unique assignments are suggested as possible occasions for use of peer nomination forms. Instructions for design and implementation and specific examples of forms designed to accommodate a variety of needs, student characteristics and grade…

The article describes the social comparison method of social validation and reports on several studies in which it was used to evaluate interventions with learning disabled (LD) students. Several implications and areas for further study are discussed, relating to the use of the social comparison method in evaluating treatment programs for LD…

Grounding their efforts on results of previous research, investigators have sought to improve peer relationships of unpopular children through direct instruction in social skills. Generally, such interventions have been effective in promoting specific outcomes. For example, skill-training programs improve children's ability to form colleague…

Compared the ratings of 24 deaf children who judged each other, using a standard sociometric technique, with ratings by their teachers. The correlations between the two sources at four assessment periods replicated previous findings of substantial convergence of teachers' behavioral ratings and children's sociometric scores. (JAC)

Analyzes the measurement characteristics of sociometric ratings and provides an empirical comparison of the use of ratings and nominations in sociometric classification. Focuses on unlimited nominations as the way to include the perceiver perspective, arguing that rating scales enable researchers to collect refined information that reflects…

Eighty-two Head Start preschoolers were assessed with a peer rating measure of sociometric status, the Social Skills Rating System for Teachers (Gresham & Elliott, 1990), an Overt Aggression scale culled from items from the Aggressive Behavior subscale of the CBCL-TRF (Achenbach, 1997), and teacher ratings of relational aggression (Crick,…

Assessed the prevalence of severe childhood depression, and variables associated with the theoretical construct. Collected peer nominations, self-ratings, and teacher observations for 3,020 children and interviewed 508 of their mothers. Depression rate based on peer nominations was 5.2 percent. Eighteen of 38 hypothesized variables correlated with…