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Using Student Ratings to Evaluate Teaching

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Peer Consulting:

Navigating the (sometimes) rocky shores

of teaching and consulting

USING STUDENT RATINGS TO ASSESS YOUR TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS

1. Use student ratings as one source of information. Do not make major changes based on only one source. Other sources can include feedback from colleagues (peer review), self-evaluation, analysis of and reflection on your own teaching logs or journals, classroom assessment techniques (CATs), and alumni surveys.

2. Use student rating data as a source of information on the effectiveness of

• delivery of instruction
• assessment of learning (i.e., exams, projects, papers, etc.)
• availability to/treatment of students

3. Recognize that factors which most significantly affect student ratings include:

• organized and effective delivery of instruction
• clarity of policies and requirements
• fairness and respect for students

4. Recognize that factors such as the following may affect student ratings to some extent, but should not be given undue weight:

• the discipline itself (students tend to rate courses and instruction somewhat lower in certain disciplines)
• age, gender, teaching experience, class size, time of day, and course level
• instructor personality and appearance

5. Collect data from at least 10 raters (to ensure statistically reliable data) and from at least 2/3 of the class (to ensure representative data).

6. Sample across courses and over time.

7. Look for trends or recurring themes in students’ narrative comments

8. Focus on comments that address your teaching behaviors, not you personally.

9. To help maintain a balanced perspective on student comments (especially critical comments), discuss your student evaluation ratings with a CELT consultant or with a trusted colleague who has had experience with peer review

10. In order for feedback to lead to improvement, it should: (a) tell you something you didn’t know and (b) be of value to you, so that you are motivated to use it to enhance your teaching. Also, you must know how to change. If you are uncertain, seek the advice of a CELT consultant to help you think through the process.

 

Adapted from: William E. Cashin, “Student Ratings: Uses and Misuses” Seldin, Changing Practices in Evaluating Teaching. Anker 1999. and John A. Centra., Reflective Faculty Evaluation. Jossey-Bass 1993.

 

Resources:

University of Miichigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching - articles on teaching evaluation principles and methods:
Teaching Strategies: Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness

Carnegie Mellon University: Evaluation and Assessment:
Student Ratings: 15 Common Beliefs & Misconceptions

Article exploring gender issues in teacher ratings by University of Washington professor
Neal Koblitz, "Are Student Ratings Unfair to Women?

IDEA site at Kansas State with essays keyed to an item IDEA survey instrument for student evaluation of teaching. Each essay consists of a brief analysis of the survey item and its relationship to good teaching, suggestions for how to enhance your teaching with respect
to this dimension, and a brief bibliography: IDEA at Kansas State