A survey of the literature of instructional evaluation, highlighting appropriate methods for encouraging, assessing, and documenting effective higher education English instruction, can aid English departments in search of valid measures of teaching effectiveness. Before a department can formalize any system of assessment, it must first establish…

Evaluation of administrators and faculty is examined, including the identification of evaluation instruments and clarification of procedures. After a brief discussion of the rationale for evaluation and the need for acting on the outcomes of the evaluation, the process of evaluating the administrator is considered. The criteria of organizational…

Six evaluation methods are discussed: student ratings, colleague evaluations, definitions of good teaching, teacher-designed examinations, evaluation of research and scholarship, and the politics of evaluation. (Author/MLW)

The trend toward accountability has focused attention on the evaluation of the performance of the faculty. The evaluation process and an analysis of the policies that guide these processes are discussed. Ten guidelines for the review of evaluation policies are provided. (MLW)

A survey of faculty attitudes shows that, although the existing evaluation system--including peer, graduate student, and undergraduate student assessments--is perceived as narrow in focus, ineffective in improving teaching, and inflexible, faculty are optimistic that a satisfactory system is possible. (Author/MSE)

Five methods of faculty evaluation used at the University of Illinois are described: student evaluations--including questionnaires; written comments, and group interviews; self-evaluation; and evaluation by colleagues. (GDC)

Five views of quality education are identified: the mystical, the reputational, the resources, the outcome, and the value-added. A new approach is proposed with the emphasis on good teaching, unpublicized student evaluations, and disinterested peer evaluation. (Author/MLW)

One University of Georgia business administration department has experimented with having faculty interview a fellow faculty member's students for insights into enhancing the learning environment inside and outside the peer faculty's classroom. A description of the program looks at how the interviews were conducted, the value of the interactions…

Asserts that an irony of academe is that professional judgments about teachers are made without direct knowledge of their teaching. Describes a four-part peer evaluation process used in a university sociology department. Discusses evaluation purposes, procedures, benefits, and dangers of the process. (CFR)

Reviews the literature on faculty evaluation to define how different purposes and competing values have produced two approaches. A procedural approach relies upon both self-evaluation and appraisals by peers, administrators, and students. The developmental approach rests upon teaching portfolios, dossiers, and self-evaluations. Contains 23…

Three types of educational evaluation--student learning, summative, and formative--are identified and described. Major emphasis is placed upon formative evaluation, which takes place over a period of time and is performed by professors rather than external evaluators or judges. Four possible targets for formative evaluations are: course content…

Some of the theoretical and methodological problems with current practices in evaluating instruction at the higher education level are reviewed. Controversy over the evaluation of instruction in higher education has resulted at least in part from inadequate instrumentation. The instruments for instructional rating now used include administrator…

In order to appraise the value of teacher peer evaluation as practiced at Los Angeles City College, a questionnaire was sent to 300 counselors, administrators, and tenured faculty. Eighty-four questionnaires were returned. The major finding was that the present system was ineffective in that the teaching characteristics of those evaluated did not…

Commonly asked questions about methods of faculty evaluation (including student, peer, and self-evaluation) are answered, and guidelines for improving a failing evaluation system are discussed. (MSE)

A survey of graduate social work schools in the United States and Canada regarding the use of peer review for tenure and promotion purposes and the specific methods and criteria used is reported, and implications for other areas of professional education are discussed. (MSE)