Student Ratings of College Teaching: Reliability, Validity, and Usefulness

The authors examine the question: “Does the evidence … support an assertion that a teacher can get ‘good’ ratings simply by assigning ‘good’ grades, or creating the expectance that he will do so?” They find that students are genuinely interested in helping teachers to improve their performance, and that the students' perception of effective teaching is positively related to “imaginative intelligence,” emotional stability, agreeableness, and enthusiasm. It is concluded that student ratings can provide valid and reliable information on instructional quality.