Predicting Student Achievement in University-Level Business and Economics Classes: Peer Observation of Classroom Instruction and Student Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness

Abstract

We examine the validity of peer observation of classroom instruction for purposes of faculty evaluation. Using both a multi-section course sample and a sample of different courses across a university's School of Business and Economics we find that the results of annual classroom observations of faculty teaching are significantly and positively correlated with student learning outcome assessment measures. This finding supports the validity of classroom observation as an assessment of teaching effectiveness. The research also indicates that student ratings of teaching effectiveness (SETEs) were less effective at measuring student learning than annual classroom observations by peers.

Notes

Cohen, J. (1969, 1981) refers to r = 0.10 (1.0% variance explained) as a small effect, r = 0.30 (9.0% variance explained) as a medium effect, and r = 0.50 (25.0% variance explained) as a large effect. Many researchers have used an r<0.30 (less than 9% variance explained) to signify a “small” effect for purposes of testing scale validity (e.g., Barrett et al. 2009; Hon et al., 2010; Varni et al. 2001; Whitfield et al. 2006).

We only have the numeral score for a faculty's peer evaluation, not the specific class it came from.

The next largest multi-section course in our sample had only three different instructors, and they were a combination of part-time and full-time faculty.