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So it turns out the old (100 years, to be exact) AAA Safety Patrol idea is still alive in our elementary schools. Wednesday&rsquo;s paper included a short story on Greater Nanticoke Area fifth-grade student Kiele Maday winning a AAA Mid-Atlantic &ldquo;Outstanding School Safety Patrol Student&rdquo; honor.
				Kudos to Kiele, of course, but also kudos to AAA for maintaining this venerable &mdash; and yes, even as we near the age of driverless cars, valuable &mdash; program.
				On its website, the AAA touts the program as playing &ldquo;an important role in helping young pedestrians learn and fulfill responsibilities regarding traffic safety,&rdquo; adding that &ldquo;millions of boys and girls have honorably served their classmates since the AAA School Safety Patrol program began in the U.S. in 1920.&rdquo;
				AAA&rsquo;s argument for the program is simple. It provides &ldquo;a safer pedestrian environment and a wide spectrum of educational opportunities for millions of children.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s probably understating the real value of this and similar efforts at helping children become better adults through peer modeling.
				It&rsquo;s true there will always be opportunists who get to full of themselves when held up as a role model or having a little &ldquo;power&rdquo; among peers (say, by wearing a belt and badge, a la Safety Patrol students). And there will almost always be the ill-behaved (and maybe jealous) fellow students eager to pick on such role models. But peer modeling, done right, has been proven to be good for students on both sides of the effort.
				A report by the University of Connecticut determined two basic outcomes from peer modeling:
				&#8226; Children who observe a successful model similar to themselves are likely to believe that they can perform as well as the model and thereby experience higher self-efficacy.
				&#8226; Children can also serve as their own model by observing tapes of themselves or by mentally reviewing the steps they need to complete a project.
				Some research shows what seems obvious: Peer modeling works better when the peer (student, in this case) comes across as having the same issues their classmates face. If a role model just acts as though their success comes naturally, they are less effective than those who talk about the steps they took (and keep taking) to do what they do well.
				It also helps if there are different types of role models. This too, seems obvious. Some students may not relate to a classmate who is too different. &ldquo;Multiple models increase the likelihood that the observer will perceive himself as similar to at least one of the models.&rdquo;
				There are a lot of versions of this already in place in many of our schools and other institutions for youngsters. Putting students together in small groups is a common example, allowing those who may have mastered some concepts to pass that knowledge to others without the potential embarrassment of having to speak to a whole class. Having older students help younger ones, or former students returning to help current students.
				There are potential pitfalls we&rsquo;ve all seen happen. Adults letting a small group of standout students dominate sessions or lessons, a kid&rsquo;s ego getting a bit to big, some kids feeling left out rather than helped. But a well-designed and run peer modelling program can avoid all that.
				And the AAA Safety Patrol has proven itself to be pretty well-designed.
				 &mdash; Times Leader

Our view: Even at 100, AAA Safety Patrol still a fine idea