Using a Faculty Evaluation Triad To Achieve Evidence-Based Teaching

Abstract An effective and comprehensive faculty evaluation system provides both formative and summative data for ongoing faculty development. It also provides data for annual faculty evaluation and tenure and promotion decision making. To achieve an effective system, a triad of faculty evaluation data sources — student ratings, teaching portfolio, and peer evaluation — were developed. Concurrently, a system of faculty mentorship was implemented, as well as an administrative structure to effectively use data to assist in merit pay and promotion decisions. Using a comprehensive, evidenced-based system to document, analyze, and improve teaching effectiveness is essential to assuring excellence in teaching and learning. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching defined what it means to be a faculty scholar: “a recognition that knowledge is acquired through research, through synthesis, through practice, and through teaching” (1, p. 24). In national surveys by the Carnegie Foundation and the Highe...