H. W. Marsh's monograph (1987) on students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness in higher education is summarized. The research, which emphasized the construct validity approach, led to the development of the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument. Factor analysis resulted in identification of nine SEEQ factors--learning value, instructor enthusiasm, organization, individual rapport, group interaction, breadth of coverage, examinations and grading, assignments and readings, and workload difficulty. The analysis encompassed 5,000 classes conducted for five groups of courses selected to represent diverse academic disciplines at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Instructors evaluated their own teaching effectiveness on the same SEEQ form as that completed by their students. Tertiary students from different countries evaluated teaching effectiveness with the SEEQ. Use of the instrument indicates that class-average student ratings are: (1) multidimensional; (2) reliable and stable; (3) primarily a function of the instructor rather than of course content; (4) relatively valid against a variety of indicators of effective teaching; (5) relatively unaffected by a variety of variables hypothesized as potential biases; and (6) perceived as useful feedback by faculty about their teaching, by students for use in course selection, and by administrators for use in personnel decisions. Eight data tables and one flowchart are presented. (TJH)