A university departmental merit evaluation plan and lessons learned from implementing the plan are discussed. The faculty evaluation plan was based on four principles: broad-based faculty and administrative support; informing faculty of expectations of them before the evaluation; providing a description of the primary decision-making and…

Designed as a forum for the exchange of practical and theoretical information regarding all aspects of personal, professional, and institutional development in postsecondary education, this journal contains articles, announcements, and resource reviews. The first issue of 1983 includes the following articles: "Institutionalizing Staff, Program and…

The use of a computer-based system of individualized course evaluations, Instructor-Designed Questionnaires (IDQs), to collect student reactions to classes at the University of Michigan is discussed. Originally designed to provide feedback to university teachers alone, the system is now used extensively by teachers to gather information for…

This in-progress program and resource study presents an actual case study in developing an alternative to tenure. The College of St. Francis implemented during the 1979-80 academic year an alternative system, the Three Year Rolling Contract. It stated that all faculty members have academic freedom under any form of appointment; upon appointment as…

Presents the problem of evaluating teaching, especially in science education. Gives examples of science teaching skills that are difficult to evaluate. Gives examples of individual solutions being used. Announces a National Science Teachers Association survey of teacher evaluation and standards. (CW)

A model of the teaching/learning system that categorizes the essential activities of teaching and learning and shows their interrelationships is proposed. An illustration of a model being applied to a teaching program is provided. (Author/MLW)

A system of faculty evaluation is described that is based on a hierarchy of assessment stages: foundation (reviewing work goals, standards, and results), peer evaluation, self-assessment, administrator appraisal, and arbitration committee. Checks and balances ensure accuracy of evaluation. (MSE)

Describes the development of a job performance evaluation system at Central Piedmont Community College for faculty, staff, and administrators. States system objectives and benefits. Reviews the two-phase development of performance factors and written performance descriptors and the system's testing and implementation in annual personnel…

Describes the peer observation program developed by faculty at California State University, Dominguez Hills, its structure and adaptations, outcomes, and recommendations for development of formative peer observation programs. The program helps reduce faculty professional isolation by providing an informal structure for discussion of teaching and…

A recent Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report counters the conventional wisdom in academe that faculty research must be evaluated by standards different from those of teaching and service, maintaining that the different types of faculty work have much in common and must be judged similarly if teaching and service are to gain…

The Texas legislature is pursuing a bill requiring regular post-tenure performance reviews for college faculty, intended to weed out lazy or incompetent professors. Many faculty express concern about the bureaucratic aspects of such a move, and about its effectiveness. Some observers find currently-required annual reviews for pay raises to be…

Several national projects supported by professional associations are redefining faculty roles and focusing the energies of faculty on teaching, on community service, and on their institutions' missions. Resulting faculty reward systems should recognize institutional mission, departmental priorities, the strength of individuals, and the uniqueness…

Discusses a five-point plan for assessing and rewarding college and university language faculty, covering the use of student assessments; videotaped classes for evaluation and for future job seeking; informal faculty sessions for discussing teaching methods; and required submission and evaluation of course outlines and reading lists. (CB)

Pasupati Mukerjee, a pharmacy professor, is crusading for quality, not quantity, in academic scholarship. He points to the lasting impact of work of brilliant scientists with questionable credentials, and proposes more emphasis on a scholar's long-term record of citation by other scholars as a faculty evaluation criterion. (MSE)

Describes a system of undergraduate and graduate instructional evaluation that integrates student and peer evaluation techniques. The procedure has three steps: preliminary meeting between faculty member and peer facilitator; in-class assessment session in which the facilitator engages students in focused discussion of teaching, in the teacher's…