Recently graduated university students from all Australian Universities rate their overall departmental and university experiences (DUEs), and their responses (N = 44,932, 41 institutions) are used by the government to benchmark departments and universities. We evaluate this DUE strategy of rating overall departments and universities rather than…

Four studies present the validation of a self-report scale capturing "academic entitlement," which is defined as the tendency to possess an expectation of academic success without a sense of personal responsibility for achieving that success. The Academic Entitlement scale possesses a 2-factor structure (Study 1); 10 items measure students'…

Hoyt recommends the use of norm groups, to adjust student ratings of instruction. Prior methods of generating norm groups relied upon the use of volunteer subjects. Results of the present study indicate that volunteer teachers' student ratings were superior to nonvolunteer teachers' ratings. (Author/RD)

College faculty evaluated their own teaching and were evaluated by their students in each of two courses. There was considerable student-faculty agreement in the ratings obtained. Separate factor analyses indicated that similar dimensions underlay both student and faculty evaluations. Validity coefficients were statistically significant for all…

Findings and research designs used to study university students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness are reviewed. A construct validation approach which recognizes the multidimensionality of both effective teaching and students' evaluations is recommended for further research. (BS)

Results of this study demonstrate student-instructor agreement on evaluations of teaching effectiveness, support the validity of student ratings for both graduate and undergraduate courses, and emphasize the importance of using multifactor rating scales that are derived through the application of factor analysis. (Author/AL)

The applicability of a Chinese translation of the Students' Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) (H. W. Marsh, 1982 and later) and the generality of findings based on North American research were studied with 844 students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Results support the use of the SEEQ in this Chinese setting. (SLD)

The validity of seven extenuating circumstances which college teachers provided as explanations for poor ratings by their students was investigated. Class size was the only circumstance producing a statistically significant difference in student ratings of their instructors. (CP)

College seniors graded lecturers on teaching and course effectiveness. After the students had graduated and been working for a year, they rated teaching effectiveness for former lecturers and nominated the best and worst teachers. Increasing maturity and job experience did not significantly alter student evaluations of relative teaching…

This study investigated how classroom teaching behavior mediates the relationship between personality and college teaching effectiveness. Instructional effectiveness was measured by end-of-term student ratings. Path analysis revealed that approximately half of the relationship between personality and teaching effectiveness was mediated by…

The generalizability and validity of student ratings were examined by studying within-class and between-classes correlations of ratings with other variables for regular faculty and their teaching assistants. Most ratings are generalizable, but only some are related to learning. Certain aspects vary with instructor's role and the level of data.…

The accuracy of various evaluation methods for assessing teacher effectiveness was investigated. College instructors (n=43) were rated by students, colleagues, trained classroom raters, former students, and themselves. Results indicate these methods to be more valid than prior research would suggest. (BS)

Primary research on student ratings of instruction is reviewed, and questions about the validity of such ratings as measures of teacher effectiveness are explored using nomological coding of 43 validity studies to examine causes of variability in coefficients of validity. Deficiencies of prior analyses and research needs are identified. (SLD)

Quantitative research on feedback that college teachers receive from student ratings is methodologically critiqued. The critique is based on a recently completed review and statistical study of 28 related studies by R. L'Hommedieu, R. J. Menges, and K. T. Brinko. Feedback effects may be stronger than research indicates. (SLD)