JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION THEORY AND PRACTICE

The Quandary of Assessing Faculty Performance

Author(s): Kamal Fatehi, Mohsen Sharifi, Jim Herbert

Citation: Kamal Fatehi, Mohsen Sharifi, Jim Herbert, (2013) "The Quandary of Assessing Faculty Performance," Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, Vol.13, Iss. 3/4, pp. 72 - 84

Article Type: Research paper

Publisher: North American Business Press

Abstract:

Many educators assert that the continued use of student ratings of teaching effectiveness does not

improve learning in the long run. However, administrators continue to use student opinions regarding

teaching effectiveness because of its convenience and the quantitative nature of the measurement.

Reducing a very complex phenomenon to a very simple numeral has its appeal. In this paper we discuss a

related aspect of teaching assessment, namely the variations of skills among instructors and the students’

response to the same. In doing so, we suggest pragmatic guidelines to university administrators for

evaluating various levels of skills and performance.