STUDENT-EVALUATIONS OF FACULTY - A NEW PROCEDURE FOR USING AGGREGATE MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE

This paper investigates the influences of numerous teacher, student, a nd course characteristics on three aggregate measures of faculty perfo rmance using Student Instructional Response (SIR) data from faculty ev aluations in the Department of Economics at the University of North Fl orida. The ordered probit regressions point to differences in the rela tive importance of faculty characteristics depending on whether the st udents are evaluating the quality of instruction, the quality of lectu res, or the value of the course. The paper also recommends a procedure for comparing SIR scores across faculty members that corrects for tho se factors beyond the instructor's control, in order to evaluate indiv idual faculty members' teaching more correctly.