Faculty Rating Scale Validity: The Selling of a Myth

Sociology is Different: The Misevaluation of Teaching Effectiveness

“…Kennedy (1975), for example, found that grades received were a major predictor of teacher evaluations. Hamilton (1980) found a similar relationship between grades and ratings, as did Powell (1978) in his extensive review of "every large research study published in the four decades between 1934 and 1974." The consistent finding has been that students who expect to receive a good grade (or, in those cases where the ratings are assessed after the final grades have been distributed, who have actually received the grade expected or one even better) generally give higher course ratings than those students whose expectations specify a grade lower than their grade point average (Elmore and Pohlmann 1978;Marsh 1980).…”

“…In a later review of the teacher ratings literature, Powell (1978) provides further insight into the issue of departmental differences. H e reports that the correlation between grades and ratings is especially strong in those departments "where grades are based on the teacher's judgment of student difference .…”

“…'At least one critic of the use of student ratings has been openly skeptical of research in this area specifically because of the affiliation of some of the investigators with commercial firms that produce evaluation forms with academic units whose raison d'etre is the assessment of student opinion of course effectiveness (Powell 1978). One need not discredit the validity of this research, however, to sigh in exasperation over some of its claims.…”

Assessment of Teaching Effectiveness in U.S. Dental Schools and the Value of Triangulation

“…1,7,15,25,35,38,46,[57][58][59][60] In fact, there is conflicting evidence and opinion in the faculty assessment literature concerning the effect that students' expectations for high grades have on their evaluation of teachers. [61][62][63] Some studies totally support the leniency hypothesis, [64][65][66][67][68][69] while others found no evidence that leniency affects ratings. 70,71 There appears to be little or no support in the literature that evaluations are affected by course content-related elements such as the course workload or difficulty 15,35,72 or even the student's grade point average.…”

“…24,35 It appears that the majority of researchers and experts in academic performance assessment believe in the reliability and validity of student evaluations as a means of evaluating teaching. 15,43,70,86,87,[91][92][93][94][95][96] 58 Chacko, 64 McKeachie, 34 Greenwald Marsh, 15 Aleamoni and by faculty) Koshland, 65 Nimmer and and Gillmore, 57 Abrami Hexner 46 Stone, 66 Powell, 67 Snyder et al, 61 Marsh, 70 Theall and Clair, 68 Instructor's personality Aleamoni, 25 Erdle et al 79 Instructor's popularity Marsh, 15 Feldman, 80 Tang 81 Aleamoni 25 Gender of instructor and/or student Aleamoni and Hexner, 46 Marsh, 15 Aleamoni, 25 Amin, 76 Dukes and Victoria 77 Feldman 78…”