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How do you rate your teachers? (9/05) |
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Tuesday, 27 September 2005 |
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“Mr. Hathwell is simply the most brilliant, arrogant, exciting and amazing English teacher ever,” an anonymous source states. “If his class is open when you get to the arena, build your schedule around it.”
This advice comes from a posting on ratemyteachers.com, a Web site which has been a source of controversy in many schools across the country. The site allows anyone with Internet access to do exactly what the URL implies — rate his or her teachers. The simple design and colorful format makes it very easy for students to rate their teachers on a scale of one to five in categories of easiness, helpfulness, and clarity. In addition, students have the option to designate a “cool” teacher by putting sunglasses on a smiley face rating, and they can write up to 500 characters about why they like or dislike a teacher’s approach.
RateMyTeachers, which has grown exponentially since it was founded in August 2001 by a California Internet entrepreneur and two teachers, now receives more than 8,000 new ratings per day, according to the site. Students are becoming quite fond of RateMyTeachers, especially at Lowell, where it has become a tool for many self-schedulers. Students have posted over 3,500 teacher ratings for 194 teachers on the site. “If I really don’t know anything about a teacher, I go on the site to look at how much work they give and whether or not they have a good atmosphere in the classroom,” junior Christine Sierra said. |
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Despite its popularity among students, some administrators question its reliability. “It’s too unstructured. I would look at the ratings with a great deal of caution,” principal Paul Cheng said.
“Comments could be from Fargo, North Dakota,” math teacher Laura Neri pointed out, “If my students in the classroom told me the comments, it would mean a lot more than anything on the Web site.”
Nancy Davis, a co-founder of RateMyTeachers, explained the purpose of the site in an e-mail. “I hope the students use the site as intended, as a feedback tool for their education — and I encourage teachers to not be afraid of the site, but to use it to improve,” she stated. “We are all in this together —- students, teachers and parents -- and if we want to see education improve, then anything that helps should be encouraged, not feared.”
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to listen.
