Sound Principles For Faculty Evaluation

Spring
2013
Topic
Professional Standards
Committee
Educational Policies Committee

This paper is a response to Academic Senate Resolution 19.05 F11, which called for an update of the 1990 Academic Senate Paper Guidelines for Developing a Faculty Evaluation Process. The current paper presents the position that faculty evaluations should be focused on professional development and on personal and professional growth and should provide meaningful, useful feedback to the evaluee. In order to make evaluation processes honest and meaningful, colleges must establish an environment in which faculty excellence and success are acknowledged and celebrated, in which suggestions for further improvement and growth are expected and welcomed, and in which both evaluators and evaluees are comfortable with candid discussion of areas for improvement. Academic senates, bargaining units, and college administration must work together to establish processes that are fair and consistent and that are not perceived by faculty as threatening or punitive. This paper is intended to update and replace the 1990 paper.

Recommendations

  1. Consider creating a standing committee of senate representatives and bargaining unit representatives who could consult regarding issues related to faculty evaluation on an ongoing basis.
  2. Work with the local bargaining unit to ensure that a clear and equitable process for selecting evaluators is included in the faculty contract.
  3. Consider working with their local bargaining unit and with their district’s human resourses department to develop a training program for members of faculty evaluation committees.
  4. Work with the local bargaining unit to ensure that the development and pursuit of individual goals is included as an aspect of the faculty evaluation process.
  5. To the greatest degree practical, work with relevant college personnel or planning bodies to use anonymous information compiled from faculty evaluations to inform the overall professional development program of the college.
  6. In order to encourage open and honest dialogue in the evaluation process and to minimize any fear of prejudicial treatment or reprisal, work with the local bargaining unit to ensure that the faculty contract includes reasonable protections for both the evaluators and the evaluee.
  7. Work with the curriculum committee, bargaining unit, and other relevant college groups to ensure that the unique situations of distance learning courses and the needs of distance learning students are accounted for in the evaluation process.