The Hermeneutics of Student Evaluations

Abstract

Student evaluations of teacher performance are generally taken as an important measure of teaching effectiveness. However, they often misrepresent classroom realities. The ratings on the forms frequently reflect students' emotional experiences in their courses rather than pedagogy or the amount of learning. Finally, since education is necessarily progressive, a competent teacher's evaluations should include complaints about difficulty and workload. Administrators need to bear this in mind in their assessment of student ratings so that they do not encourage instructors to teach in fear of their evaluations.