Should students be able to rate their teachers?

January 6, 2019
Teachers. They rule the classroom. In most cases, it’s their way or the highway. Everyone has had the teacher that just wants to get through the lesson as quickly as possible just so they don’t have to deal with their questions and eagerness any longer. Using phrases like “go ask a classmate” or “you should know this” just so the student can go away and stop pestering them.
In my opinion, teachers that say and teach in this type of style, have lazy, uninterested students who don’t care because their teacher doesn’t care. It gives students the idea that if their teacher doesn’t care about their learning, neither should they.
There is a really useful tool on the United Federation of Teachers website that marks or grades teachers on how effective their teaching style is. It is based on measures of student learning (mosl) and standards of teacher practice (motp) to calculate a rating of effectiveness. You can receive a highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective.
Although this is an American website and rating system, I think it’s very effective, especially for the teachers who get a low rating go through a program called the Teacher Improvement Plan. This plan is definitely a step in the right direction for teaching and teachers to become more influential and progressive in the modern day learning environment.
Some alterations that need to be made to this system, like more accurate rating, and there are definitely some flaws, but having a system where teachers can learn to improve their teaching styles to fit their student’s needs is so important.
One thing I would change to this system is to allow students to have an input and be able to rate their teachers teaching styles and efficiency while teaching. This would not only improve student learning and eagerness but would also give teachers the chance to learn and grow themselves and their teaching methods.
Interesting topic! It gives more depth to a program that many know of, but don’t know about.
I agree with you on this being a great tool, being able to give constructive comments to a teacher not only improves their teaching but your learning. Students being able to take their own learning into their hands is an amazing step towards a brighter future.
As a student who has dealt with teachers with that garbage attitude I appreciate reading a topic that exposes those teachers. I agree with the idea of a better organised grading system for teachers because some people can not teach people no matter how smart they are
To be honest, the first website that I visited after I got my course schedule was Rate My Teacher. I’d heard from a few students that the ratings and comments on the teachers were very accurate. Some other info that I found helpful was that a few of the comments even gave tips to dealing with the coursework in a certain teachers’ class. It is definitely an incredibly helpful tool, and I’m very glad that it’s available. Awesome article, thanks 🙂
I think this is a great idea and a well written article! Being able to let the administration know how your teachers are doing would be beneficial to everyone. There is currently a website where you can rate your teachers, but it doesn’t get sent to administration. However, I think it is a cool place to learn how teachers are from other students before you decide on your courses. The website is: ratemyteachers.com