MAKING STUDENTS EVALUATIONS OF TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS EFFECTIVE - THECRITICAL ISSUES OF VALIDITY, BIAS, AND UTILITY

This article reviews research indicating that, under appropriate condi tions, students' evaluations of teaching (SETs) are (a) multidimension al; (b) reliable and stable; (c) primarily a function of the instructo r who teaches a course rather than the course that is taught; (d) rela tively valid against a variety of indicators of effective teaching, (e ) relatively unaffected by a variety of variables hypothesized as pote ntial biases (e.g., grading leniency, class size, workload, prior subj ect interest); and (f) useful in improving teaching effectiveness when SETS are coupled with appropriate consultation. The authors recommend rejecting a narrow criterion-related approach to validity and adoptin g a broad construct-validation approach, recognizing that effective te aching and SETs that reflect teaching effectiveness are multidimension al; no single criterion of effective teaching is sufficient; and tenta tive interpretations of relations with validity criteria and potential biases should be evaluated critically in different contexts, in relat ion to multiple criteria of effective teaching, theory, and existing k nowledge.