RELATIONSHIP OF STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF FACULTY TO SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT - ARE POPULAR INSTRUCTORS BETTER EDUCATORS

Student evaluation of the faculty is a standard practice in most medic al schools. Implied in these evaluations is the notion that popular in structors tie, those considered outstanding by the students) are bette r educators, whose teaching translates into higher scores for their st udents on examinations. We tested this hypothesis by comparing Student s' evaluations of the faculty with levels of academic achievement in a second-year pathology coarse. Objective measures of academic achievem ent included scores on final comprehensive examinations, final course grade, and performance on the United States Medical Licensing Examinat ion (USMLE). During the 4 years studied (1990 to 1995), students belon ging to groups with the highest ratings for their instruction performe d no better than those with the poorest ratings. There uas no correlat ion between students' perceptions of quality in reaching and their aca demic achievement. Our results: indicate that students' evaluations of the faculty are subjective and do not correlate with objective result s used in the assessment of student knowledge. Popular instructors are not necessarily better educators. Copyright (C) 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company.