The Grading Teachers Project: Share Your Thoughts Online

Comments on evaluating teachers:

I. First, here is my background:

I am a retired college professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, having taught for 32 years at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) in Danbury, CT. I was Department chairperson for 8 years and have spent many years on department, school, and college-wide promotion and tenure committees.

We have two children, a girl (M.D.) now age 36 and boy (Masters Degree in Engineering) now 33. Both attended our local public school, Connecticut Region 12.  Each of our children are parents of two children.

II. Below is a brief description of how teacher evaluations were/are done at W.C.S.U.

At the end of each course (the last day of class but before final exams), students evaluate the teacher.  As I recall there were about 15 questions.  For example, some of the question looked like this.

Question 1:  The instructor was on time for class
 a) Hardly ever, b) sometimes, c) usually, d) most of the time,  e) always

Question 2:  The instructor made effective use of class time.
 a) Hardly ever, b) sometimes, c) usually, d) most of the time, e) always
 
Question 3: The instructor provided a syllabus which clearly explained the topics to be covered, the requirements, the number and times of the exams, and the grading policy.
 a) . . . e) appropriate responses
 
Question 4: The textbook was appropriate for the course.
 a) . . . e) responses

And so on.

Question 15: Overall, how pleased are you with this course?
 a) . . . e) responses
 
Question 16: Please add any further comments on the content or teaching of the course.

The results of these “mark sense” questionnaires were then summarized by computer.  The original questionnaires and the computer results were returned to the instructor.  Copies were put into the instructor’s personnel file.

It was expected that each instructor would study the student responses in order to make improvements to his/her teaching performance.  Only one instructor mentioned to me that she did not look at the student responses.  She was a poor teacher and was not rehired.

When the instructor was up for promotion or tenure, members of the appropriate evaluation committee would base their evaluation on an examination the instructor’s personnel file and visits the instructor’s current classes.

III. Final comments
a) This is a simple, straightforward evaluation process.
b) As you can see, student evaluations play a major part in a teacher’s evaluation.
c) I believe that this evaluation method is effective, fair, and is appropriate at the high school level.