Student evaluations of instruction have long been used to evaluate the teaching performance of instructors. However, despite the widespread use of data from student evaluations for the purpose of determining faculty teaching effectiveness, a review of the literature in the area indicates that issues concerning the validity and usefulness of such evaluations remain unresolved. Given the pervasiveness of usage of such evaluations, substantial changes in the system are unlikely to be implemented across the country. After reviewing key problem areas that have been identified in student evaluations of faculty, this paper suggests some possible methods to increase the validity of teaching evaluations without major changes to the current systems of evaluation of faculty. Such changes could benefit both college students and faculty by increasing the usefulness of student evaluations of faculty.