<st1:personname w:st="on">OBTS-L</st1:personname> opened today with:
-----Original Message-----
From Don McCormick On Oct 9, 2005, at 1:07 AM
Subject: Are student ratings of teaching valid?
On Oct 7, 2005, at 4:29 PM, John T Gray wrote:
> When
> I first taught it was regular practice to have colleagues sit in on
> classes and critique. For most that has now been replaced by student
> evaluation questionnaires which rate the rateable, and though reliable
> they are invalid.
I wish to respectfully disagree with that statement. My understanding
of the research on student ratings of teaching leads me to a different
conclusion.
Marsh reviewed the literature on student ratings and concluded:
"...class-average student ratings are (a) multidimensional; (b)
reliable and stable; (c) primarily a function of the instructor who
teaches a course rather than the course that is taught; (d) relatively
valid against a variety of indicators of effective teaching; (e)
relatively unaffected by a variety of variables hypothesized as
potential biases: and (f) seen to useful by faculty as feedback about
their teaching, by students fro use in course selection and by
administrators for use in personnel decisions." March, 1984, p. 707"
A later review ("Student Ratings of tEaching: A Summary of the
Research" by William Cashin) came to the same conclusion. That paper
examined over 1,300 articles and books dealing with research on student
ratings of teaching. It said strongly that no faculty evaluation system
should only rely on student ratings, but it comes to the conclusion
that student ratings of teaching, while not perfect, are relatively
valid and correlate with all other forms of evaluation.
If you want to read the whole paper, it is at http://www.idea.ksu.edu/
- Don
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Don McCormick, Ph.D, Associate Professor
University of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Redlands</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype></st1:place> of Business
<st1:address w:st="on"><st1:street w:st="on">1200 E. Colton Avenue</st1:street>, <st1:city w:st="on">Redlands</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">CA</st1:state> <st1:postalcode w:st="on">92373-0999</st1:postalcode></st1:address>
(909) 748-6249 don_mccormick@redlands.edu
http://newton.uor.edu/FacultyFolder/DMcCormick
"The end of all education should surely be service to others." -
Cesar E. Chavez