The Student Association Academic Affairs Committee is beginning a pre-test to decide how to administer teacher evaluations.

“The pre-test is a way of smoothing out the details before it goes to a larger scale,” said SA Academic Affairs Adviser Willie Fowler.

The pre-test results this semester will not be published, Fowler said. However, studies of the pre-test will be made to decide the evaluation process, he said.

The nine departments to be tested are English, music, geography, nursing, political science or sociology, accounting, math, Spanish and biology, he said.

However, professor approval will be needed before doing the evaluations, Fowler said. The amount of department participation depends on the approval, he said.

“The results of these evaluations will be documented and compiled in a booklet and used as a sample,” he said. “Also included in the packet will be a background of each instructor.”

The sample will give professors a better understanding of how the evaluations will be used, Fowler said. It will also help the SA avoid spending money without getting results, he said.

Evaluation funding alternatives include selling advertising space within the packet, charging students who buy the publication and funding from the SA or NIU.

The SA is against selling the packets to students but it might be an option, he said.

The committee went before the University Council Wednesday to gain approval to publish teacher evaluations. FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED AND ADD IT.