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Teacher tenure: Yes!

Robin Lakoff, professor emerita of linguistics | August 22, 2014

In his New York Times op-ed of August 19, Frank Bruni has become only the latest in a long line of authoritative people to denounce teacher tenure. By so doing, Bruni enters the race to become my least favorite Times columnist, against the stiff competition of Maureen Dowd and David Brooks. If you have been … Continue reading »

Do student evaluations measure teaching effectiveness?

Philip Stark, professor of statistics | October 14, 2013

Since 1975, course evaluations at Berkeley have included the following question: Considering both the limitations and possibilities of the subject matter and course, how would you rate the overall teaching effectiveness of this instructor? 1 (not at all effective), 2, 3, 4 (moderately effective), 5, 6, 7 (extremely effective) Among faculty, student evaluations of teaching … Continue reading »