relations of peer perceptions to children's academic achievement

Two studies were conducted in which children's (Grades 3--8) perceptions of classmates' academic performance, school affect, and behavioral conduct were examined in relation to achievement outcomes as measured by standardized achievement test scores in language, mathematics, and science, and school grades in English, mathematics, and science. Study 1 was a longitudinal design and the main research question addressed was whether the way a child's peers perceive him or her with respect to school characteristics would be related to children's academic outcomes concurrently, and one year later. Support was found for several hypotheses advanced. Peers' perceptions were related to children's concurrent achievement test scores and school grades. Peers' perceptions were also generally predictive of the following year's school grades. Domain differences were found in that peers' perceptions of academic performance were more strongly predictive than affect or conduct domain judgments. Peers' perceptions were also more strongly related to school grades than to achievement test scores. The second study continued the examination of peers' perceptions with additional perceptions measured from children's self-judgments and teachers' ratings. In Study 2, the main question explored was whether peers' perceptions of children's academic qualities would be predictive of children's concurrent achievement outcomes beyond children's self-perceptions and teachers' perceptions. Results showed that even after controlling for both self and teacher judgments, peers' perceptions were strongly related to all school grades. Theoretical and practical implications of the research findings were discussed and suggestions for future research were offered.