The newly formed and still evolving National Executive Development Center of the American Association of School Administrators is described. Its mission is to provide a process for guiding professional development of school executives. Considerations regarding the use of assessment data for formative and summative evaluation are discussed. (SLD)

A means of documenting exemplary college teaching is the teaching portfolio, which offers a wider range of evidence than single measures. A proposed faculty development program has teachers prepare portfolios individually, discuss teaching issues as a group within the academic unit, and design and test a system for evaluating teaching. This…

The authors compare the ideal versus actual academic reward structures at a representative sample of nondoctoral four-year institutions and make recommendations. (Contains 2 tables.)

In order to clarify the process and criteria by which faculty at Castleton State College in Vermont are chosen for merit awards, the faculty union representative and an administration representative were interviewed. Problems of evaluation and funding, common in merit programs, were found to be paramount, and it became evident that the ideal merit…

Eight reasons are given against the use of merit pay for university faculty. The introduction of salary schedules is suggested to eliminate the debates and inequities of merit evaluations. (FG)

Based on the idea that the skills needed to mentor a college faculty member in development of a reflective teaching portfolio are similar to those a composition teacher uses for student consultation, the process and guiding principles used by one mentor are described. Issues of portfolio organization and sources for objective feedback are also…

A study of the University of Melbourne (Australia) mandatory annual faculty evaluation program after its second year of operation is reported. Results revealed some faculty uncertainty about the plan's intentions and tensions between its summative and formative purposes. Some positive outcomes were identified, but too few to claim the plan was…

Issues emerging in the use of active learning techniques at the college level are summarized, including faculty's risk of colleagues' disapproval, risk of student disapproval, creation of a positive classroom environment, inclusiveness and equitable participation, course and student evaluation, and use of electronic tools for instructional…

A University of Queensland study investigated the validity of evaluating university teaching and subjects with a single instrument, the importance of student learning approaches in faculty evaluation, and the potential influence of several background variables on student attitudes. As a result of the study, the existing instrument has been…

Industry's experience with performance appraisal and performance management are examined, and a University of New South Wales (Australia) performance management program for general staff is discussed. The issues raised appear to be common to universities, and it is concluded that the approach is unlikely to work effectively in the university…

In the United States, college students' ratings of instructors are routinely used to make personnel decisions. However, closer examination of the qualifications of amateur student raters and novice public school teachers who have received training that should enable them to be good raters suggests that neither group is qualified to give reliable…

Current university tenure and promotion criteria are examined critically, and it is suggested that they are both an effect and a source of gender bias. Current working assumptions regarding what constitutes good research, teaching, and service and the relative importance of each reflect and perpetuate masculine values and practices, preventing…

Psychological research, it is suggested, has made significant contributions to Canadian higher education. Cognition and learning, the measurement of student abilities, instruction, the evaluation of teaching, student characteristics, the organization and operation of the university, and program evaluation are examined. (Author/MLW)

Discusses problems with summative peer evaluation of college teaching, looking at conflicting interests and mixed metaphors of faculty evaluation that obscure its process and principles. Issues related to five kinds of evaluation (judging, critiquing, assessing, appraising, rating) are examined. Argues that peers can contribute to faculty…

In 1993, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's governing board mandated peer evaluation for nontenured faculty. Participants in the American Association for Higher Education's peer review project feared the mandate would taint efforts to introduce faculty to collegial approaches to peer review. However, negative fallout from the mandate…