The Student Association is working on a plan to publish teacher evaluations each semester.

SA Academic Affairs Adviser Willie Fowler said the publication of NIU teacher evaluations would help students make informed class selections. “If students pay $6,000 (to attend NIU), they should have a choice,” Fowler said.

The proposal to expand the present evaluations for publication will surface at the SA next semester. If the SA decides to publish teacher evaluations, Fowler said it would not be to check up on teachers. The SA would “try to make it comfortable for everyone,” he said.

However, the publication of teacher evaluations might be a “touchy issue” with teachers, Fowler said. Publication might give disgruntled students a chance to get back at a teacher, he said.

The Student Government Association at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently published the results of teacher evaluations in a student registration guide, “Outlook.”

Scott Forbes, U of I academic affairs chairman, said the Association “pushed for years” to have its own questions included in teacher evaluations. The Association put six of its own questions on evaluations distributed last spring, two weeks before the end of the semester.

The Association’s questions evaluated teachers on a scale from one to five on effectiveness, receptiveness to student questions, enthusiasm, class workloads, relevance of teaching materials and grading policies.

U of I teachers were not required to give the Association’s questions to students. The Association plans to publish teacher evaluation results every semester, Forbes said. About half of the courses offered at U of I are listed in “Outlook,” he said.

The reaction to the publication has been mixed among U of I students, Forbes said.

Brian Miller, U of I student, said he used “Outlook” to pick only some of his spring classes because not all teachers were listed.