So what IS a fair evaluation system for teachers?

[Pholus]

8. Spent too much time with the U.S. "students are customers" mentality to ever agree.

Collect the evaluations, absolutely. They can contain some useful feedback. However, the student is not in a place to understand much more than a generic feeling of accomplishment (that can be biased) and emotions about their interpersonal relationship with the instructor (which can be irrelevant).

Some of my best teachers have been strict, unyielding martinets with no warmth in interactions. Where else can one learn rigor in thought and work product? But I'll bet you any amount you care to name that none of them ever got an evaluation as positive as the nice-guy/gal in the same department. I feared them before the class and was glad when I was done with them, but I was better for the effort. I would not have been as generous in my thoughts about them at the time.

So..... Let student evals influence career decisions such as seniority and retention? Not so much.

"The suggestion is not only empirically falsified but even more importantly, condescending towards students."

Hahahaha. You know me not. And, most certainly, citation please! Because if you provide one that demonstrates your statement with hard numbers I will MOST CERTAINLY forward to my administrators. I have every reason to WISH your statement were true and backed up by some kind of hard incontrovertable research.

Over the last ten years, my evaluations have been sooooo glowingly positive that I have had to fight the gossip and perception that I am a suck-up, easy-grading teacher. Only solid performance on common standardized tests has kept me from literally being sanctioned for treating my students as human beings, accomodating their individuality in my instructional technique and being there for them when they need me 24 hours a day.

Student evalutions do not merely point out bad teachers, they also punish people who do too well on them as well. A race to pablum and the mediocre.