Recruitment
Retention
Advancement
Leadership
TipsonEvaluatingTeaching
JoeySprague
UniversityofKansas
Theresearchliteratureincognitivesocialpsychologyshowsthatweallusegenderandraceasprimaryframes
throughwhichweperceiveoneanotherandhasidentifiedfactorsthatcaneitherexacerbateormitigatethese
biases.Researchonstudentevaluationofteachingshowsstudentsholdteachersaccountableforgendered
expectationsingenderspecificways.Studentsalsopunishwomenmorethanmenforbadgrades.Hereare
someideasthatevaluatorswhowanttomitigatetheconsequencesofbiasshouldconsider.
Increasethereliabilityofquantitativemeasures
Askonlywhatstudentsarecompetenttoanswer
Beconcrete:generaloroverallassessmentsinvitestereotyping
MakeStandardsexplicit(insteadofisavailable,stateexpectationandaskifitisbeingmet)
MinimizeSalienceofGender(avoidloadedwordslikecaring)
MinimizeTimePressure(keepthenumberofitemsshort)
Usemultiplemeasuresofteachingeffectiveness(seebelow)
Improvetheanalysisofquantitativedata
UseMedians:theyarelesssusceptiblethanmeanstothedistortingimpactofoutliers
AnalyzeVariance:examinethedistributionofscoreswithinthesameclassandforthesameinstructor
acrossclasses.
Domultivariateanalyses,controllingforstudentsgender,race,expectedgrade,andwhetherornot
theclassisrequired.
IncreasingtheValidityoftheEvaluation
EvaluationResearchMethodologistsstresstwocrucialstepsshouldprecedeevaluation:1)makingthedesired
outcomesclearandconcreteand2)specifyingtheindicatorsofthoseoutcomes.Whatarethegoalsyouare
tryingtoachieveinevaluatingteaching?Whatwouldbevalidandreliableindicatorsofthedegreetowhich
thosegoalsarebeingachieved?Hereisastart:
Goals
Indicators
CommunicateCurrentContentoftheField
Syllabus
Studentlearning
Studentwork
Teachingpracticesthatenhancelearning
Observationofinteractioninclassroomsettings
Exercises,labs,andotherassignments
Teacherskilldevelopment
Reflectiveessaysdiscussingmodificationsovertime
Participationintrainingopportunities
Donecorrectly,thedevelopmentofthismaterialisnotonerousandpromotesthedevelopmentofateachers
skill.Facultybegincollectingthedataintheirfirstsemesterofteaching.Departmentmentorsperiodically
reviewmaterialsandprovideadvicethatfacultycanincorporateinfuturesemesters.Departmentsthen
provideawrittenassessmentofprogressovertimeaspartoftheTenureandPromotiondossier.
Moredetailedstandardsforevaluatingteachingandlearningareathttp://www.cte.ku.edu/documenting/
Laube,Heather,KellyMassoni,JoeySprague,andAbbyFerber.2007.TheImpactofGenderontheEvaluationofTeaching:WhatWe
KnowandWhatWeCanDo.NationalWomensStudiesAssociationJournal19,3:87104.
Sprague,JoeyandKelleyMassoni.2005.StudentEvaluationsAndGenderedExpectations:WhatWeCantCountCanHurtUs.Sex
Roles:AJournalofResearch53,1112:779793.