A Peer Review Process for Classroom-Teaching Authors
INTRODUCTION Student evaluation is the most common method used to assess teaching performance during classroom instruction. (1) This method is reliable and valid for assessing teaching effectiveness; (2-3) however, the potential for evaluation bias has also been noted in the literature. (4-8) In one study, faculty members from the Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy at Shenandoah University evaluated the relationship between students' grade expectations, their actual grades, and their evaluation of 138 courses taught over 4 academic years at their institution. The 5,399 students included in the study represented first--through third-year pharmacy students. Researchers found a strong positive correlation between the mean course evaluation scores and the students' actual and expected grades. This suggests a potential for students to positively evaluate faculty members who award them higher grades. (8) The faculty perception and utilization of the information provided by student evaluations was examined by faculty members from Mercer University. A questionnaire consisting of 19 favorable and unfavorable statements about student evaluations and 22 changes in instructional activity resulting from student feedback was created. The faculty member was asked to evaluate the 19 statements and to describe if any of the 22 instructional activities "decreased," "increased," or did "not change" based on student evaluations. A validated questionnaire was mailed to 1,600 faculty members. Approximately 43% of questionnaires were included in the final analysis. Forty-six percent of respondents were pharmacy practice faculty members. Other faculty members were evenly distributed among the disciplines of medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics, pharmacology, and social and administrative sciences. Respondents also were evenly distributed by rank (30% professor; 34% associate professor; 35% assistant professor), and 55% of the faculty members were tenured. The mean attitude score was 3.1 (using a 5-point Likert scale) representing a neutral attitude toward student evaluations. In particular, pharmacy faculty members disagreed (mean response To evaluate faculty perception on their promotion and tenure process, a questionnaire consisting of 29 commonly utilized promotion and tenure criteria was mailed to 300 randomly selected full-time faculty members at US colleges and schools of pharmacy. The faculty members were asked to indicate how much each criterion was currently emphasized for promotion and tenure and how much importance they think each criterion should receive. The distribution of rank was evenly divided among the respondents, with approximately half tenured. The majority of participants were in the pharmacy practice department (37%), and the other disciplines included 11% pharmacology, 15% pharmaceutics, 16% chemistry, 13% social and administrative sciences, and 8% other. "Peer evaluation either through a structured peer review committee or by input from peers within your institution with relevant backgrounds" was in the top 5 criteria the faculty members would like to see emphasized. Peer evaluation also had the largest discrepancy between what is currently valued and what faculty members would like to see emphasized. (10) This information suggested that pharmacy faculty members may want to implement a peer-evaluation process to enhance their teaching performance and documentation. …