Technical Notes
On Use of SSU Faculty
Evaluation
By M. Crow, IRP
3/31/2000
While it is properly the role of SSU’s academic administration (Deans; VPAA) to provide directions and mandates to Department Heads and Chairs regarding faculty evaluation, you may find the following technical comment from this office to be useful.
A document dated 4/17/94 and entitled “Scoring of Student Evaluations of Teaching Effectiveness” by then Vice President George O’Neal has come to light and it suggests a formula for how one should incorporate the student evaluation results into an overall performance review of a faculty member. It is unknown in this office whether the formula has been adjusted by subsequent authority. Dr O’Neal’s formula is presented below, somewhat elaborated and explicated:
Let “MP” = Total of the Total Mean Points allocated by all students for survey items 1-15. (Find this number by totaling the mean scores for each row in the right hand column—Total—of the first page of the summary Student Evaluation of Instruction print out provided from this office.
Note that 75 = Maximum possible points if an instructor were evaluated “5” for every item by every student.
And, note that 15% = Maximum weight permitted to be allocated to student evaluations in instructor’s overall performance evaluation by the department head.
Then, the total Points available for inclusion the instructor’s performance evaluation from this factor is calculated as follows:
(MP / 75) * 15
Note that this formula will likely deliver a different result than the formula that some department heads are known to have used. For your information, that alternative formula is as follows:
Let EM = the total mean score for item # 16, Excellent Overall, on the evaluation form.
Then: EM * 15 = Total Points
No formal instruction approving, suggesting, or allowing this second formula has been discovered as yet. This office has not undertaken empirical research to demonstrate the degree of variation that might be expected between results derived from the two formulas.
