Peer assessment is a powerful tool in education, allowing students to evaluate each other’s work, build accountability and learn how to give feedback. However, bias can undermine its effectiveness, leading to unfair evaluations and diminished learning outcomes. In their seminal research paper, “Methods of Peer Assessment,” Kane and Lawler explore the challenges of peer feedback and offer practical solutions to reduce bias. With Feedback Loop’s new peer assessment template based on Kane and Lawler’s work, we wanted to dive into their research and highlight actionable strategies to enhance the fairness and effectiveness of peer assessment.
What is Peer Assessment?
Peer assessment is a collaborative learning strategy where students review and evaluate the work of their teammates. It fosters critical thinking, deepens understanding of subject matter, and introduces diverse perspectives that enrich the educational experience. Feedback Loop currently supports peer assessment in a teamwork context and will be launching assignment peer feedback in fall 2025 to expand this to essays, presentations and more. Whether teamwork or assignment-based, peer assessment empowers students to take an active role in their learning and develop mastery.
A common concern around this powerful learning tool is on the quality and impartiality of the feedback. Bias—whether from personal relationships, inconsistent standards, or any other bias can distort evaluations and reduce trust in the peer assessment process. This is where Kane and Lawler’s research helps, offering methods to tackle these challenges head-on.
The Challenge of Bias in Peer Assessment
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Favoritism or Prejudice: friendships or grudges can lead to overly generous or unfairly harsh evaluations.
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Inconsistent Standards: Without clearly defined rating guidelines, students may judge work differently, creating uneven assessments.
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Lack of Expertise: Many students feel unsure about critiquing their peers, resulting in vague or unhelpful feedback.
Kane and Lawler’s Research: 5 Bias Reduction Strategies
1. Structured Rubrics for Consistent Evaluation
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What It Is: Detailed rubrics with clearly labeled scales provide objective criteria for assessing work, such as clarity, creativity, or technical accuracy.
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Why It Works: Rubrics eliminate guesswork by setting clear expectations. Students evaluate based on objective standards rather than subjective opinions, reducing inconsistencies and personal bias.
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For Teamwork Peer Feedback: students have to know who they are rating in the context of teamwork but, when receiving their results, students do not need to know who gave them their feedback and should instead interpret the received feedback on its own merit.
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For Assignment Peer Feedback: Anonymity ensures reviewers don’t know whose work they are assessing, and the assessed don’t know who reviewed them.
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Why It Works: By removing personal connections, anonymity curbs favoritism and prejudice. It also encourages honest, constructive criticism that focuses entirely on the work or performance at hand.
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What It Is: Students practice assessing sample work and compare their scores to expert ratings, fine-tuning their judgment.
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Why It Works: Calibration aligns student evaluations with established standards, reducing scoring variability and boosting fairness.
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What It Is: Assigning a mix of peers to review each piece of work ensures feedback reflects multiple viewpoints.
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Why It Works: Diverse perspectives balance out individual biases, creating a more comprehensive and equitable evaluation.
Why These Strategies Matter
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Fairness: Structured rubrics and anonymous feedback level the playing field, ensuring every student is judged equitably.
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Constructive Feedback: Training and calibration enable students to deliver actionable insights that help their peers grow.
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Enhanced Learning: A bias-free process makes peer assessment a reliable tool for deepening understanding and collaboration.
By addressing bias, these strategies transform peer assessment from a potential minefield into a valuable learning opportunity.
Building a Fairer Peer Assessment Process
Kane and Lawler’s research in “Methods of Peer Assessment” showcases the importance of reducing bias to unlock the full potential of peer feedback. Their practical solutions provide educators a roadmap to create a fairer, more effective assessment process.
As peer assessment grows in popularity across classrooms and institutions, prioritizing fairness and objectivity is critical. By adopting these bias reduction strategies, we can ensure that peer feedback remains a trusted, constructive part of the learning journey—empowering students to evaluate thoughtfully and learn collaboratively.
To learn more about how Feedback Loop integrates this approach to bias reduction in peer feedback, click below to schedule a demo.
