Research on student evaluation of college teachers' performance is briefly summarized. Lawrence M. Aleamoni offers four arguments in favor of student ratings: (1) students are the main source of information about the educational environment; (2) students are the most logical evaluators of student satisfaction and effectiveness of course elements;…

Student ratings of instruction are widely used as a basis for personnel decisions and faculty development recommendations. This digest discusses concerns about the validity of student ratings and presents a case for their use in teacher evaluation. There are several strong arguments for using student ratings to evaluate teachers. Students are in a…

Studies on the criterion validity of student evaluation-of-instruction instruments are analyzed, and recommendations are offered for future research into student evaluation of instruction. The main problem, and probably the reason for the lack of validity studies, is that it is difficult to agree on what the criteria of effective teaching should…

Recent research (1978-1982) on student evaluations of teaching is reviewed, including: influence of background variables pertaining to the student, the teacher, and the learning environment; the dimensions of the teaching being evaluated; the validity of students' evaluations; the "Doctor Fox" effect and its implications for validity; the…

Despite a history of conflicting research on its reliability and validity, student evaluation of faculty (SEF) has typically not been viewed as an infringement on academic freedom; it has generally been taken for granted that SEF is appropriate and necessary. However, informal and reasoned analyses of the issue indicate that because SEF is used…