The Role of Student Evaluations in Tenure and Promotion:
Is Effective Teaching Really Being Measured?
As a dean, the fall semester always left me a bit uneasy
as I discussed the tenure and promotion process with my faculty members. As at
most colleges and universities, our institution states that the criteria for
tenure and/or promotion are based on teaching, research, and service. In my
opinion, service to the college is demonstrated through various activities such
as committee memberships, college lectures, and community involvement. Research
is documented most easily through publications. However, teaching, and, in
fact, effective teaching, remains unclear. After years of discussing the
importance of student evaluations with faculty, and actually having one faculty
member suggest that they should serve doughnuts on the day they survey the
students to better their evaluations, a colleague and I began to explore what
students and faculty really believe is demonstrated by the phrase effective
teaching.
According to Laube, Massoni, Sprague, and Ferber (2007),
administrators routinely rely on the quantitative rating of students when attempting
to document effective teaching. These ratings, which are administered at the
end of the semester, most often involve the faculty member leaving the
classroom while students answer a variety of questions related to classroom
management, class content, and the faculty member?s delivery of subject matter.
Since the 1980s higher education has routinely incorporated these student
evaluations into personnel decisions (Thorne, 1980). However, for more than
three decades, many questions have been emerging about the validity of student
ratings for the purpose of faculty evaluations (Sheehan, 1975), and to date few
questions have been answered.
An article in this publication stated that faculty
members, regardless of their institutional affiliation, expect evaluations of
their teaching (Ewing & Crockford, 2008). A study on student assessments of
teaching suggested that student evaluations of instructors were overemphasized
in the tenure and promotion process (Wattiaux, Moore, Rastani, & Crump, 2010).
If student evaluations are to be a key component in the documentation of
effective teaching, then let us be certain that effective teaching is being
measured. In addition, if student evaluations are not truly evaluations of
teaching effectiveness, then let us not assert that we are measuring effective
teaching through these procedures. As a dean or department chair, one is
charged with guiding and protecting their faculty (McCabe & Bryant, 2009);
to do so they must be provided accurate information.
My question to other deans and department chairs is
simply this: If we are dependent on student evaluations of faculty for tenure
and promotion, should we not first be assured that what we assume is being
measured (effective teaching) is truly the measure we are obtaining? Our
research attempted to address this question.
Methodology
The research design for this project was cross-sectional,
with surveys administered to 265 faculty and students at a private liberal arts
college. The survey was designed to capture demographic information on
respondents (sex, rank of professor/ level of academic standing, and
discipline/major) and provide the respondents the opportunity to define the
phrase effective teacher. This opportunity for definition was afforded by
providing a list of thirty options to the respondents and asking them to rank
from 1 to 4 (with 1 being their best choice) their response to the question:
How do you define an effective teacher? For clarity, options for the answers to
the question included statements such as: motivates students to do well in the
course, uses a variety of teaching methods, makes the grading requirements
clear, and so on. The survey instrument was pretested on both faculty members
and students outside the population of this study to help ensure the
reliability and validity o
f the instrument.
Data were analyzed in terms of a frequency table to display general trends for
reporting the findings.
Results
The population for this study was 32 faculty members and
233 students from a variety of disciplines (social sciences, humanities, math,
physical sciences, health, business, and education). Approximately 40% of the
students were male and approximately 60% were female. Approximately 50% of the
faculty members were male and approximately 50% were female.
As displayed in Table 1, some of the more common
definitions of an effective teacher by students were: a sense of humor (15%),
someone who is able to relate to students? lives (13%), someone with patience
and flexibility (21%), someone who is able to keep students? interest (44%),
and someone who clearly indicates materials to be tested (16%). As displayed in
Table 2, some of the more common definitions of an effective teacher by faculty
members were: the love of the subject (50%), an instructor who outlines the
course expectations (22%), someone who utilizes a variety of teaching methods
(24%), someone who is organized (44%), and someone who encourages student
questions (22%).
Table 1. Definition of an Effective Teacher by Faculty
and Students
Faculty (n = 32) Students (n = 233)
Number Percent Number Percent
A sense of humor 1 3.1 34 14.6
Able to relate to students? lives 1 3.1 30 12.9
Patience and flexibility 2 6.2 49 21.0
Able to keep students? interest 2 6.2 103 44.2
Clearly indicates material to be tested 1 3.1 36 15.5
Table 2. Definition of an Effective Teacher by Faculty
and Students
Faculty (n = 32) Students (n = 233)
Number Percent Number Percent
Uses a variety of teaching methods 13 40.6 56 24.0
A love of the subject 16 50.0 77 33.0
Outlines course expectations 7 21.9 23 10.3
Organized 14 43.7 30 12.9
Encourages student questions 7 21.9 15 6.4
Discussion
The results of this exploratory study provide some
interesting insights into the differences in student versus faculty perceptions
of an effective teacher. In general, students and faculty define effective
teaching very differently. From a faculty perspective, an effective teacher
should love the subject and be able to present it in multiple ways. From a
student perspective, an effective teacher should be funny, interesting, and
able to relate to students.
Here lies our dilemma. From an administrator?s position,
if we are dependent on student evaluations to better our professors? efforts in
the classroom and, ultimately, a professor?s tenure and promotion, then are we
not concerned when many students perceive an effective teacher as someone who
perhaps does not deliver correct information but who keeps them entertained?
If we are interested in effective teaching, then perhaps
other methods for evaluating teaching (peer observations, evaluations from
those in the field of education, or the model of ?teaching to the test?) should
be incorporated into the mix. It is disconcerting to think that an effective
teacher may be denied tenure because he or she did not induce laughter in the
classroom. Again, if we are truly interested in rewarding effective teaching,
then let us be assured that we understand the various definitions of effective
teaching. If colleges and universities are committed to the idea of teaching
and learning, then they must begin by defining this amorphous phrase of
effective teaching. Research such as this study only begins to address this
issue.
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Kimberly A. McCabe is dean of the School of Humanities
and Social Sciences, and Leslie S. Layne is assistant professor of English,
both at Lynchburg College. Email: mccabe@lynchburg.edu,
layne.l@lynchburg.edu
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References
Ewing, J. K., & Crockford, B. (2008, Winter).
Changing the culture of expectations: Building a culture of evidence. The
Department Chair, 18(3), 23?25.
Laube, H., Massoni, K., Sprague, J., & Ferber, A. L.
(2007). The impact of gender on the evaluation of teaching: What we know and
what we can do. National Women?s Studies Association Journal, 19(3), 87?104.
McCabe, K. A., & Bryant, S. M. (2009, Spring).
Motivations of a dean: Change or profit? The Department Chair, 19(4), 17?20.
Sheehan, D. (1975). On the invalidity of student ratings
for administrative personnel decisions. Journal of Higher Education, 46(6),
687?700.
Thorne, G. (1980). Student ratings of instructors: From
scores to administrative decisions. Journal of Higher Education, 51(2),
207?214.
Wattiaux, M., Moore, J., Rastani, R., & Crump, P.
(2010). Excellence in teaching for promotion and tenure in animal and dairy
sciences at doctoral/research universities: A faculty perspective. Journal of
Dairy Sciences, 93(7), 3365?3376.
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