Top Level: [ Home ] [ Search ] [ L&S Handbook Site Map ] [ A Snapshot of L&S ] [ L&S Admin Directory ] [ L&S Org Chart ]
Chapter Topics: [ I. Administration & Governance] [ II. Funding, Budget and Operations] [ III. Personnel ] [ IV. Other Personnel Policies ] [ V. Curriculum and Related Policies ] [ VI. Student Academic Affairs ] [ VII. College Relations ] [ VIII. Resources & Services ] [ Glossary of L&S Terms ]
Chapter V Contents: [ V.1 Registration, Timetable & Enrollment Management ] [ V.2 Class Size & Course Enrollment Restrictions ] [ V.3 Instructional Workloads and Class Meeting Times ] [ V.4. Academic Program Review Guidelines ] [ V.5 Curricular Changes ] [ V.6 Academic Assessment ] [ V.7 General Education Requirements ] [ V.8 Writing Across the Curriculum ] [ V.9 The L&S Honors Program ] [ V.10 Service Learning and Community Based Research ] [ V.11 Instructional Materials ] [ V.12 Special Course and Non-Standard Fees ] [ V.13 Use of Readers ] [ V.14 Faculty & Student Evaluations ] [ V.15 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Compliance ] [ V.16 Students Called to Military Service ] [ V.17 Holding Classes Off Campus ] [ V.18 Directed Study Issues ]

V.14 FACULTY EVALUATIONS AND ACCESS TO STUDENT EVALUATIONS OF INSTRUCTION

Faculty are frequently evaluated by their students (see Chapter III.4.1). Often, these evaluations of instruction take the form of written comments by the students, completed at the end of each course. Typically, the evaluation contains questions requiring answers on a numerical scale and a space for comments.

The Attorney General has ruled that student evaluations of instruction, whether viewed as personnel records or not, are records subject to the Wisconsin Public Records Law. This law presumes complete access to all records kept by a state agency, including complete access to personnel records. Denial of public access to any record is presumed to be contrary to the public interest and only in limited circumstances may access be denied. Denial is permitted only where the interest of the public in prohibiting access outweighs the interest of the public in obtaining access, or where there is a specific statutory exception. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has recognized a strong public policy interest in protecting the reputational interests of individuals who are the subjects of public records.

The Office of Administrative Legal Services recommends the following course of action and review when a request is made for access to student evaluations of instruction:

  1. Notify the instructor of the course for which the student evaluations have been requested that the request has been made.
  2. Review the evaluations to determine whether there are any comments which might unduly damage the reputation of the instructor. Student opinion as to the quality of instruction or preparedness of the instructor most likely would not fall within this category. Statements that the instructor had engaged in sexual harassment, behaved unethically, etc., would be examples of information which is damaging to reputation. Do not provide the requester with the damaging comments. However, prior to denying access to the comments, contact the Office of Administrative Legal Services to review the appropriate language for excluding portions of the comments on this basis. Notify the instructor that you have not provided access to these comments.
  3. Determine whether, due to the size of the class, it would be possible to identify the student by the handwriting on the page. If so, type the comments prior to providing them to the requester.
  4. If the instructor objects to disclosure to all or part of the evaluations, consult with the Office of Administrative Legal Services for advice on how to proceed.
  5. Provide access to the records or copies of the records. Under the Public Records Law, a reasonable fee may be charged for copying the records which reflects the actual cost of making the copies.  

For further information contact the Office of Administrative Legal Services at 3-7400.

Publication of Course Evaluations

For many years, the UW-Madison student government has published data drawn from course evaluations for courses normally taken by undergraduates, e.g., courses numbered 699 and below. The Associated Students of Madison publishes course evaluations online at http://www.asm.wisc.edu/cms/content/view/88/.

The Associated Students of Madison asks that departments and programs offering faculty-taught course offered in the 100-600 range send them the results of course evaluations in summary form. The information should include:

  1. The average score to each question for every 100-600 level class taught by a faculty member.
  2. The course number, title, and professor's name for each course.
  3. A copy of the questions or evaluation form used, even if submitted in previous years.
  4. The sample size and standard deviation for each question noted above.
  5. Contact name, phone number, e-mail address and fax number of the individual responsible for providing information to ASM.

As noted above, there is no standard form or format for teaching evaluations; each department will undoubtedly seek to evaluate each course in the context of the instructor, curriculum, department, and discipline. Despite the understandable variety of questions asked, ASM seeks to facilitate comparison across courses and departments by highlighting four questions that seem to be more or less common across course evaluations: the degree to which students find the course interesting, the quality of presentation for course materials, the degree to which the instructor is available, and the overall quality of the course. To further facilitate comparison, ASM employs a 4-5 point scale, with 4 or 5 as the high/positive mark. Although neither the administration nor departments are responsible for conversion of data from individual departments into the format used to present the course evaluations, departments may wish to consider these factors as they develop their course evaluation forms.

Updated August 24, 2007 by emk

 

It is the nature of this document to be a work in progress. 
The L&S Handbook is produced and hosted by the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science.
South Hall, 1055 Bascom Mall, Madison WI  53706
This document is updated annually each summer; however, significant additions may be made at any time. Departments
will be alerted to these when they are made. Most recent annual update: August 2006.
Contact:  Elaine M. Klein, Webmaster/Editor, L&S Online Handbook
klein@ls.admin.wisc.edu or (608) 265-8484
©2000-2006 UW System Board of Regents