This study examines the relationship between student ratings and the degree of choice the instructor has in deciding whether a given course will be evaluated. It was concluded that voluntariness of evaluation need not be taken into consideration when using large, multinstitutional, comparative student rating data pools. (Author/PN)

Addresses general problems related to faculty evaluation systems and student ratings and specific problems more common to community colleges. Recommends using student rating data in conjunction with other sources of information to compensate for its limitations. (DMM)

The usefulness of global items in predicting weighted-composite evaluations of teaching was evaluated with a sample of 17,183 classes from 105 institutions. Results suggest that, because global items account for a substantial amount of variance, a short evaluation form could capture much of the information needed for summative evaluation. (SLD)

This paper attempts to summarize the conclusions of the major reviews of the literature on student ratings of teaching. It is an update of a paper by the same name published as IDEA Paper No. 20 from the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development in 1988. Viewing student ratings as data rather than evaluations may help to put them in proper…

A review of data that have been used to evaluate college teaching suggests that the definition of teaching used for those evaluations has been very incomplete. An expanded definition includes the following seven components of college teaching: (1) subject matter mastery; (2) curriculum development; (3) course design; (4) delivery of instruction;…

A study investigated whether Biglan clusters of academic disciplines (hard/soft, pure/applied, life/nonlife) could be used to explain disciplinary differences in college student ratings of instruction. It was found that Biglan clusters do not explain the differences, many disciplines still emphasize knowledge acquisition over higher-order skills,…

A large data set of student ratings of college teaching was studied to explore previous indications that student ratings are affected by the subject area of instruction. Previous research by Marsh (1984), Feldman (1978), and Cranton and Smith (1986) reported the influence of factors other than instruction. To examine the impact of subject area on…

There are four reasons why comparative data is needed for student ratings of faculty performance: (1) the considerable inflation of student ratings; (2) the great variability in the way students rate different items; (3) because student rating systems must be flexible and comparable; and (4) because of factors (such as student motivation, class…

Research on variables that may bias student ratings of faculty have found them generally insignificant, but students do rate differently by academic field. The real problem arises from not knowing why this occurs. Institutions and individuals should decide how they will take these differences into consideration when interpreting student ratings.…

Conclusions of major reviews of the literature on student ratings of college teachers are summarized for the period 1971 to September 1988. Several factor analytic studies have concluded that student ratings are multidimensional and that no single item will be useful for all purposes. Consistency, stability, and generalizability are aspects of…

Recommendations for deriving and using student ratings of college teachers are presented. General recommendations for teacher evaluation include: (1) using multiple sources of data about a faculty member; (2) using student ratings as one aspect; and (3) determining the purpose of the ratings before they are collected. Ten specific recommendations…

The kinds of information that have been used in the past to evaluate the effectiveness of college teaching are briefly reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of eight sources that seem most useful for making such judgments are discussed. Possible sources of information for evaluating an instructor's teaching effectiveness are: classroom…

The development of the IDEA system, a survey concerning teacher effectiveness at Kansas State University (KSU) is described. The system originated at KSU during the 1968-69 academic year as a means for investigating the effectiveness of teaching and for improving instruction. A discussion concerning its purpose and rationale is included. The…