April 1, 2008
Dear Department Chairs and Faculty:
On behalf of our committee, we extend our appreciation
once again for your active involvement in determining your department's component weights
for Step 4. The component weights were voted on and approved by Faculty Senate on March
14, 2008. Please click on the link entitled Role
Component Weights to view the institutional outcome for Step 4.
In Steps 1-4, we focused on determining and defining
the roles that should be evaluated, how much weight or value should be placed on the performance
of each role in the overall evaluation, and how much weight the individual components
of each role contribute in the overall evaluation, and how much weight the individual
components of each role contribute in the evaluation of that role. With that accomplished,
our committee is ready to undertake Step 5. The objective of Step 5 is to decide who should
provide the information on which the evaluation will be based. As our committee approaches
this very important step, we are taking into serious consideration the following information
provided by Dr. Raoul Arreola.
“Too frequently
students are automatically selected as the sole or primary source of the information
used in a faculty evaluation system. Students are certainly appropriate sources of information
for certain kinds of activities, but they are by no means always the best source of
information for all the activities in which faculty engage and on which they may be
evaluated. The most important principle in identifying and selecting sources of information
is to make certain that the source identified has first-hand knowledge of the performance
being evaluated.”
Our committee is carefully considering the definition
of each role in order to make a logical decision as to who would be the most appropriate
source of information concerning the performance of the instructor. The co-chairs will
present the Sources of Information during
the April Department Chairs' meeting. The Department Chair members are invited to discuss,
as consultants, their thoughts and recommendations regarding the committee's decision.
Steps 6 - 8 involve determining the Source Impact
Weights, planning how the information will be gathered and finally, completing the system
by selecting or designing forms, protocols, and rating scales. If you have any questions,
please call or e-mail Lynette Macfarlan or Linda Uhlenkott.
Sincerely,
Evaluation Committee Members
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