Texas may be the proverbial canary in a coal mine when it comes to the prospective online publication of student evaluations of faculty. At least it's the only state mentioned with a legislative mandate in the April 25 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, on the variety of approaches for evaluations used around the country. The article is by David Glenn.
Here's a choice passage:
…many find the concept of evaluations toxic. "They should be outlawed," says D. Larry Crumbley, a professor of accounting at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge who recently co-edited a book about the topic. "They have destroyed higher education." Mr. Crumbley believes the forms lead inexorably to grade inflation and the dumbing down of the curriculum.
Outlawing the forms seems unlikely. The tide, in fact, seems to be moving in the opposite direction. Last year, Texas enacted a law that will require every public college to post each faculty member's student-evaluation scores on a public Web site.
As reported here often, the Legislature in 2009 enacted HB 2504, requiring all colleges and universities to formulate a plan to publish evaluations, as well as other course information, for inspection by anyone with an Internet connection. For background, please see this initial post.
The Chronicle piece paints a picture of increased sophistication around the country, designed to make the evaluation instruments more appropriate to individual disciplines and pedagogical techniques. The University of North Texas, facing the new statutory requirement, has engaged in extensive collaboration with all those who stand to be affected, including adjunct faculty. The UNT analysis even examined variances in classroom space and equipment, and how these factors could influence student perceptions.
Some educators at Texas community colleges envision a different scenario, in which the forms will become more brief, generic, and applicable to all—for the sake of simplicity. On the other hand, one official at a large community college says their plan will take at least a year to implement fully, and will engender considerable technical challenges. If you do a little arithmetic on the numbers involved statewide, the HB 2504 project may get hairy, and expensive, very quickly.
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