Universities rely heavily on student evaluations of teaching (SETs) to assess instructor performance and make decisions about promotion, tenure, and pay. Yet research increasingly reveals a fundamental problem: student evaluations measure satisfaction and emotional response, not teaching quality.
This distinction matters. When students rate instructors highly, they often reflect whether they enjoyed the course or liked the professor personally, not whether they actually learned the material or mastered critical skills. Students may rate demanding courses lower even when those courses produce stronger learning outcomes. Conversely, entertaining instructors who cover less rigorous content can receive top marks.
The limitations extend further. SETs contain documented biases. Research shows students rate female instructors and instructors of color lower than white male peers teaching identical content. Student evaluations also correlate with factors unrelated to teaching quality, including course timing, class size, and whether the course is required or elective.
Despite these documented flaws, universities continue using SETs as primary evidence for high-stakes employment decisions. This practice affects job security and compensation for thousands of faculty members annually.
The alternative gaining traction involves peer evaluation. Experienced colleagues observe classes, review syllabi and assignments, and assess whether instruction aligns with disciplinary standards and learning objectives. Peer evaluators can judge pedagogical design, course structure, and alignment between objectives and assessment. They evaluate teaching itself rather than student satisfaction.
Some institutions now use a dual approach: students provide feedback on their experience while trained peers assess instructional quality. This combination gives administrators both customer feedback and expert professional judgment.
The research suggests universities must rethink how they value teaching. Treating student satisfaction as a proxy for teaching effectiveness creates misaligned incentives. Faculty may prioritize entertaining lectures and easy grading over rigorous learning design. Institutions serious about teaching quality should weight peer evaluation more heavily in personnel decisions while limiting SET influence to secondary feedback about course logistics and climate.
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