Transforming College Teaching Evaluation: A Framework for Advancing Instructional Excellence

An impactful approach to teaching assessment that boosts teaching practice while ensuring student success More effective learning goes hand-in-hand with a commitment to instructional excellence, but institutional approaches to instructor evaluation often fall short in assessing quality. In Transforming College Teaching Evaluation, Ann E. Austin, Noah D. Finkelstein, Andrea Follmer Greenhoot, Doug Ward, and Gabriela Cornejo Weaver propose a thorough reform of teaching evaluation that strengthens teaching and learning processes, enriches faculty practice, and enhances the institutional culture of teaching and learning for long-term success. This work understands that the academic department is the basic unit of change in a college and to truly transform teaching evaluation, department-level, college-level, and central institutional efforts must link together to drive reform. Leveraging data from the seven-year TEval study conducted at University of Colorado Boulder, University of Kansas, and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the authors introduce a model for high-quality teaching evaluation that considers seven dimensions of educational practice, spanning the full array of teaching activities inside and out of the classroom. This framework incorporates a constellation of evaluative tools and data, such as faculty self-report, external reviews, and student surveys, and different approaches to evaluation that leaders can adapt to institutional needs. For administrators and educators seeking to advance modern teaching practices and fair teaching evaluation, this book provides a robust plan for reorienting the faculty reward system toward excellence.