AA 2021-09

1.0 Policy Purpose

1.1 The joint task force of the Academic Senate of California State University, Dominguez Hills (ASCSUDH) and the Division of Academic Affairs be formed to provide guidance regarding best practices, policy recommendations, and utility of Teaching Effectiveness Assessments at CSUDH.

2.0 Function

2.1 That the Collective Bargaining Agreement, relevant University and College policies, CSUDH Academic Master Plan, and the university’s social justice mission be consulted by the Task Force for Assessing Teaching Effectiveness (TFTEA@DH).

2.2 That the TFTEA@DH will consult the literature and science of teaching effectiveness assessment and examine practices, including best practices for assessing teaching effectiveness, across the CSU and California Community Colleges.

3.0 Scope

1.1 The scope of the TFTEA@DH work is to examine topics including, but not limited to:

1.1.1 General assumptions related to teaching effectiveness assessment;

1.1.2 Campus-wide student feedback on teaching questions, format, and implementation processes;

1.1.3 Campus-wide principles for faculty/peer assessment of teaching effectiveness;

1.1.4 Campus-wide principles for faculty self-assessment of teaching effectiveness, and;

1.1.5 Campus-wide teaching effectiveness assessment questions and tools at the student, faculty/peer, and self-assessment levels for use by colleges and departments or other units.

4.0 Responsibility

4.1 That the TFTEA@DH will commence in Fall 2021 and will write a report proposing policies and requirements for Teaching Effectiveness Assessment with a plan to implement the proposed policies and requirements no later than December 2022.

5.0 Membership

5.1 The Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Chair of the Faculty Policy Committee each name one chair to co-chair the task force.

5.1.1 Membership of the task force shall include the following:

5.1.1.1 One appointed representative from:

5.1.1.1.1 Faculty Affairs

5.1.1.1.2 Student Affairs (MPP)

5.1.1.1.3 College Associate Deans

5.1.1.1.4 Student representatives: undergraduate student and graduate student

5.1.1.1.5 CFA representative

5.1.1.1.6 Faculty Development Center

5.1.1.1.7 Academic Technology

5.1.1.2 One elected representative from:

5.1.1.2.1 Non-Tenure Track Faculty

5.1.1.2.2 Faculty (tenured, tenure-track, or lecturer) representative from each college, including CEIE, and the Library

5.1.1.2.3 Department Chair

6.0 Rationale

6.1 The overreliance at CSUDH on students’ evaluations of teaching effectiveness (known at CSUDH as perceived teaching effectiveness or “PTEs”) in the retention, tenure, and promotion process for probationary and tenured faculty as well as non-tenure track faculty evaluation processes has been a common concern among faculty members. The topic has previously been discussed at two Academic Senate retreats in 2019.

6.2 Student evaluations have been criticized in the literature as being invalid measures of student learning and sources of significant bias. Faculty are concerned with the low response rates and sample sizes, validity of the questions presented to students, and the research indicating that student evaluations are heavily influenced by racial and gender bias with potentially disparate use and impact on the retention, tenure and promotion of faculty of color and female faculty.

6.3 Given the evidence of gender and racial bias, the reliance on PTEs as a significant assessment tool in the evaluation of faculty performance hinders the university’s efforts to increase and retain the faculty of color, and therefore maintain and grow a faculty body that reflects our student body (citations from relevant studies below). Beyond the obvious implications on job security, professional advancement and income inequality, the well- established bias against women and faculty of color renders PTEs incompatible with the equity principles of CSUDH and CSU, and likely presents grounds for legal challenges.

6.4 Thus, complementary, supplementary and/or alternative modes and criteria for evaluations that reliably assess teaching effectiveness while honoring the disciplinary differences in pedagogies, and the diversity, skills, and strengths of CSUDH faculty should be explored, formalized into our assessment processes for teaching effectiveness, implemented, and assessed. This in turn will help support of CSUDH equity principles and its overall mission.

7.0 References

Adams, S., Bekker, S., Fan, Y., Gordon, T., Shepherd, L. J., Slavich, E., & Waters, D. (2021).

Gender bias in student evaluations of teaching: ‘Punish[ing] those who fail to do their gender right.’ Higher Education. Advance online publication. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00704-9

Aruguete, M. S., Slater, J., & Mwaikinda, S. R. (2017). The effects of professors’ race and clothing style on student evaluations. Journal of Negro Education, 86(4), 494–502. http://doi.org/10.7709/jnegroeducation.86.4.0494

Bavishi, A., Madera, J. M., & Hebl, M. R. (2010). The effect of professor ethnicity and gender on student evaluations: Judged before met. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 3(4), 245–256. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0020763

Boring, A. (2017). Gender biases in student evaluations of teaching. Journal of Public Economics, 145, 27–41. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2016.11.006

Boring, A., Ottoboni, K., & Stark, P. B. (2016). Student evaluations of teaching (mostly) do not measure teaching effectiveness. ScienceOpen Research. http://doi.org/10.14293/S2199- 1006.1.SOR-EDU.AETBZC.v1

Chisadza, C., Nicholls, N., & Yitbarek, E. (2019). Race and gender biases in student evaluations of teachers. Economics Letters, 179, 66–71. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2019.03.022

Colón-Aguirre, M., Cooke, N. A., & Gibson, A. (2020). Racism and bias in student evaluations of teaching. http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/108788

Esarey, J., & Valdes, N. (2020). Unbiased, reliable, and valid student evaluations can still be unfair. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 45(8), 1106–1120. http://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1724875

Fan, Y., Shepherd, L. J., Slavich, E., Waters, D., Stone, M., Abel, R., & Johnston, E. L. (2019).

Gender and cultural bias in student evaluations: Why representation matters. PLoS ONE, 14(2), 1–16. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209749

Gatwiri, K., Anderson, L., & Townsend-Cross, M. (2021). ‘Teaching shouldn’t feel like a combat sport’: How teaching evaluations are weaponised against minoritised academics. Race Ethnicity and Education. Advance online publication. http://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2021.1890560

Heffernan, T. (2021). Sexism, racism, prejudice, and bias: A literature review and synthesis of research surrounding student evaluations of courses and teaching. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. Advance online publication. http://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1888075

MacNell, L., Driscoll, A., & Hunt, A. N. (2015). What’s in a name: Exposing gender bias in student ratings of teaching. Innovative Higher Education, 40(4), 291–303. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-014-9313-4

Mitchell, K. M. W., & Martin, J. (2018). Gender bias in student evaluations. PS: Political Science & Politics, 51(3), 648–652. http://doi.org/10.1017/S104909651800001X

Peterson, D. A. M., Biederman, L. A., Andersen, D., Ditonto, T. M., & Roe, K. (2019). Mitigating gender bias in student evaluations of teaching. PLOS ONE, 14(5), e0216241. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216241

Smith, B. P., & Hawkins, B. (2011). Examining student evaluations of black college faculty: Does race matter? The Journal of Negro Education, 80(2), 149–162.

Wallace, S. L., Lewis, A. K., & Allen, M. D. (2019). The state of the literature on student evaluations of teaching and an exploratory analysis of written comments: Who benefits most? College Teaching, 67(1), 1–14. http://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2018.1483317

A more comprehensive bibliography is available here:

Holman, M., Key, E., & Kreitzer, R. (2019). Evidence of bias in student evaluations of teaching. http://docs.google.com/document/d/14JiF-fT-- F3Qaefjv2jMRFRWUS8TaaT9JjbYke1fgxE/edit?usp=embed_facebook