This article examines a little-studied review genre of academe: letters written for faculty retention, promotion, and tenure (RPT). Given their centrally evaluative nature, these documents have potential to illuminate academic community values, particularly those related to faculty work. Of specific interest in this study is the evaluative…

Several experts in the area of postsecondary student evaluations of courses have concluded that they are stable or reliable measures as well as being measures that provide ways of making valid inferences regarding teacher effectiveness. Often these experts have offered these conclusions without supporting evidence. Surprisingly, a thorough review…

This study is an exploratory inquiry into the perceptions of university faculty regarding two forms of teaching evaluations, student evaluations of teaching (SET), and peer observation reports (POR). Which, if either, better assesses the quality of instruction? Who are the real experts in judging teaching quality: peers who are experts in their…