Of all the bad ideas from those attacking higher education this one has to be one of the stupidest! In Iowa a bill was proposed to evaluate a professor’s teaching performance based on student evaluations and “If a professor fails to attain a minimum threshold of performance based on the student evaluations used to assess the professor’s teaching effectiveness, in accordance with the criteria and rating system adopted by the board, the institution shall terminate the professor’s employment regardless of tenure status or contract. ” And “The names of the five professors who rank lowest on their institution’s evaluation for the semester, but who scored above the minimum threshold of performance, shall be published on the institution’s internet site and the student body shall be offered an opportunity to vote on the question of whether any of the five professors will be retained as employees of the institution. The employment of the professor receiving the fewest votes approving retention shall be terminated by the institution regardless of tenure status or contract.”
These people obviously know nothing about teaching or, more importantly, the relationship between teaching quality and student evaluations. Teaching evaluations often reflect the likability of the teacher and whether or not the student enjoyed the class (either because they liked the subject or because it was easy). The easiest way to improve your course evaluations is by making the course easy. I can just see it now. If this was implemented it would be a race to the bottom as professors worried more about making their students happy, rather than educating them! Yikes!