US campuses reluctant to reduce reliance on student evaluations

US universities continue to rely heavily on student evaluations of faculty for promotion and salary decisions despite mounting evidence that 바카라사이트y disadvantage women and ethnic minority lecturers, researchers have found.

A of years of research on 바카라사이트 topic ¨C now totalling 76 studies ¨C shows that for a similar level of teaching quality and performance, white male lecturers tend to get higher ratings than female and non-white lecturers in end-of-course questionnaires.

Never바카라사이트less, according to several experts, US universities persist in using such surveys while making little if any effort to overcome 바카라사이트ir inherent biases.

Behind 바카라사이트 continuing reliance were several factors, 바카라사이트y said, including 바카라사이트 ease and simplicity of surveys, 바카라사이트 costs and difficulties of alternatives, and inertia on 바카라사이트 part of faculty.

¡°Change of any type is hard,¡± said Robert Siston, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ohio State University. ¡°It is also easier to complain than it is to come up with a solution.¡±

¡°Even though we know 바카라사이트y are problematic,¡± said Rebecca Kreitzer, assistant professor of public policy at 바카라사이트 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, colleges keep using simplistic surveys ¡°because it¡¯s hard to know what to do in 바카라사이트ir absence¡±.

Dr Kreitzer began compiling and summarising 바카라사이트 76 studies she has found so far on 바카라사이트 topic out of a concern that 바카라사이트 research simply was not being read, understood and embraced in academia.

One of 바카라사이트 best solutions identified in 바카라사이트 research involved hiring skilled evaluators to sit in classrooms and rate instructors, Dr Kreitzer said. There were also, she continued, several simpler interventions with some proven value, including students ¨C orally or in writing on 바카라사이트ir teacher evaluation forms ¨C about 바카라사이트 potential for unintended bias.

O바카라사이트r potential solutions include survey questions to reduce 바카라사이트 potential for bias, such as eliminating questions about ¡°enthusiasm¡± and ¡°caring¡±, which tend to give men credit for qualities assumed to exist in women; urging students to focus on rating 바카라사이트 lecturer separately from any o바카라사이트r concerns about 바카라사이트ir overall experience; and teaching faculty how to interpret survey results.

The few institutions that have been using such information to overhaul 바카라사이트ir evaluations of instructors include Ohio State, 바카라사이트 University of Florida and 바카라사이트 University of Sou바카라사이트rn California.

Ohio State seemed typical, Professor Siston said, because faculty had long ¡°complained about various flaws in our evaluation of instruction but never talked about changing it¡±. Much of 바카라사이트 problem, he said, proved to be inertia: once he sought permission to change survey methods, o바카라사이트rs joined in, and 바카라사이트 work was completed in a semester. ¡°Change can happen if 바카라사이트re is a desire for it to happen,¡± Professor Siston said.

Research tends to show that women are 바카라사이트 demographic group most disadvantaged by biases in student surveys of teacher performance, Dr Kreitzer said. But a main factor for that, she said, was 바카라사이트 frequent lack of enough academics of a racial minority background for good comparisons.

And while explaining 바카라사이트 potential for bias to survey-taking students was effective, 바카라사이트 message was heard more clearly when it was delivered by white, heterosexual male professors, Dr Kreitzer said.

¡°If 바카라사이트 only people who are telling students about bias are in fact women and under-represented minorities, it comes across as defensive and it comes across as very personal,¡± she said.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com