De-grading student evaluations: What’s wrong with student polls of teaching

A quarter o f a century ago, few universit ies polled their s tudents on the merits of their professors. Doing that was left to the students themselves, who polled each other and published the results in underground newspapers, for the benefit o f other students. But times have changed. In the seventies, the student poll of teaching (the SPOT) became an official part o f university policy, used in 86% of public universities to help administrators decide which professors to promote or raise in pay. ~ The S P O T has taken a big step up. It is time for universities to take a look at what they have done. Was the SPOT ' s rise merited? Has it proved its worth? Has it provided the universities with a good measure of teaching? Has it helped to improve teaching? Should it be continued? Although people think so, I remain unconvinced. I f a good teacher is one from whom students learn, there is not now and never has been any p roo f that the S P O T picks out the best teachers. Nor is there any p roof that SPOTs have benefited teaching. Instead, there are indications to the contrary.