A data-based scheme for evaluating faculty performance

Abstract

Both sound management practice and the law require that administrative decisions affecting faculty members reflect systematic, uniformly applied, fair, and valid evaluations of performance. To meet these requirements a performance evaluation scheme must involve two decision elements, both of which are addressed and illustrated in this paper:what will be evaluated, andhow the evaluation will be made. A data-based faculty performance evaluation program specifically oriented toward such administrative actions as tenure, promotion, and salary adjustment is described. This program rests upon task analysis to clarify the nature of the desired evaluative content and peer review as the primary evaluative mechanism. The scheme is illustrated using the experience of a department of psychology training to the doctorate. However, the approach to faculty performance evaluation herein described and illustrated is generalizable, with modification, to other departments and institutions. Several considerations pertinent to such modification are discussed.