Whoa! A new Slate article entitled “Student Evaluations Can’t Be Used to Assess Professors” caught my attention today. Research shows that it’s biased in favor of white, cisgender, American-born men. This could explain why my ex-colleague, a white alpha male dog owner, consistently received outstanding evaluations, while I, a female minority, have not.
The article gives examples of bias and concludes that using student evaluations are illegal. What then is the point of student evaluations?
Towards the end of each term, we college instructors scramble to get our students to complete their evaluations. When we first begin teaching, we’re given examples of how to achieve a high completion rate, for reliability correlates with it.
Comparing notes with my peers, I learned that you can give them an extra point if they fill out the evaluation. You can give them access to your computer in the classroom to make sure they do the job, in your presence. You can give them peer pressure by saying that if it’s not 100% complete, then the class doesn’t get an extra point.
While 100% completion rate may be an achievement in itself, some teachers go further to ensure they get good evaluations. They craft the assignments so that students get good grades just before the evaluation period begins. This sense of accomplishment propels them to write good things about the teacher and the class.
Unfortunately, student evaluation period starts and ends just before piano recitals and final exams. My students are usually anxious and uncertain. It’s the worst time to evaluate me and my course.
After the semester ends, reading students’ evaluations is the last thing on my mind. The alpha male dog owner, in contrast, can’t wait to read them out loud. It’s almost as if he lives for it.