This paper reviews the social origins of students' development of self-regulatory skill, with special emphasis on observational learning through peer modeling. A social cognitive perspective on self-regulation is presented. In this view students' academic competence develops initially from social sources of academic skills and subsequently shifts to self-sources in a series of four levels: observational, imitative, self-controlled, and self-regulated. The effects of models on observers depend in part on perceptions of self-efficacy, or personal beliefs about one's capabilities to learn or perform behaviors at designated levels. Research is reviewed on cognitive modeling, coping and mastery models, and self-modeling. Implications for educational practice are discussed. Contains 31 references. (Contains 31 references.) (Author)