No Correlation Between Evaluations and Learning - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed

A number of studies suggest that student evaluations of teaching are unreliable due to various kinds of biases against instructors. Yet conventional wisdom remains that students learn best from highly rated instructors; tenure cases have even hinged on it. A new study suggests that past analyses linking student achievement to high student teaching evaluation ratings are flawed, a mere “artifact of small sample sized studies and publication bias.” The study, in press with Studies in Educational Evaluation says “Our up-to-date meta-analysis of all multisection studies revealed no significant correlations between [evaluation] ratings and learning.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/09/21/new-study-could-be-another-nail-coffin-validity-student-evaluations-teaching