Teacher evaluations are supposed to reflect how well a teacher performs in the eyes of the students. The format of teacher evaluations, and the ways they are administered, make them a poor way of measuring a teacher’s professional skill.

Evaluations often contain a number of double-barreled and ambiguous questions which don’t really measure anything except the administration’s effort at acting like they care about student opinion. In foreign language, an evaluation can contain eight questions. In sociology, one can contain thirty-six questions.

Qualified professional survey-research instructors should construct survey instruments for teacher evaluations so evaluations can be reliable and valid.

Enough time should be allowed to fill out teacher evaluations. Teacher evaluations should not be administered at the end of a class period when everyone wants to leave and catch an early bus. Time and space also should be provided so students can freely express their opinions in their own words at the end of the questionnaire.

If teacher evaluations would more clearly measure a teacher’s effectiveness, and more students would fill them out conscientiously, then the evaluations would be more suitable to evaluate.

James J. Edwards

sociology/crim. justice