Peer assessment helped students' results more than no assessment, across 54 studies.

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   The studies covered school pupils and college or university students. Writing was the most common subject.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students assessed each other's work, or had their work assessed, through grades, written comments or talk. Their results were compared with students who had no assessment, teacher assessment or self-assessment. No assessment often meant teaching as usual.

3. 03

   What happened

   Peer assessment beat no assessment by a moderate amount, and teacher assessment by a similar amount. It did not clearly beat students who marked their own work. The studies differed a lot, and a few of the paper's numbers don't quite match.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Across 23 studies, students who got peer assessment did better than those with no assessment.

   • Rule: Get feedback on your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 23 studies · vs students with no assessment, often teaching as usual · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; mixes trials with other kinds of study

2. Helped

   Across 31 studies, students did better with peer than teacher assessment.

   • Rule: Get feedback on your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 31 studies · vs students who got teacher assessment · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; mixes trials with other kinds of study

3. No difference

   Across 10 studies, peer assessment did not clearly beat students who marked their own work.

   • Rule: Get feedback on your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 10 studies · vs students who marked their own work · ⚠ mixes trials with other kinds of study

Source