Every year we are evaluated in the three areas of professorial accomplishment: teaching, research, and service. Until recently we’d get rated “Excellent, Meritorious, Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory.” These are very easy to understand words in the English language that have an easily accessible meaning. It was very nice to get my evaluation letter every year and scan it for “Excellent, Excellent, Excellent.”
For some unfathomable reason, however, we have ditched this system and have put in its place a cryptic and confusing system of letters and numbers. Instead of Excellent, I’m now rated “L03.” I can, of course, deduce L03’s meaning from the comments that accompany the rating but it’s not in the least rewarding to be told that I’m L03. It’s also not fun to share with others.
“Honey, let’s celebrate! I’m L03 in all categories!”
“Well, I’m not surprised! I always knew you were totally L03.”
I don’t know why this was done but I’ve got my suspicions. And they are not good.
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We get rated in those same areas, via numbers. And this would be fine, except the numbers don’t mean what they seem to mean, because each area is assigned a “ranking.”
For instance, my teaching is ranked 40% of my overall total, while my work in service is 20% of my overall total. My research (which for me is my fiction writing) is 40% of the total.
And then we get rated on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (excellent) in each of these areas. So I get a 5 in research, and a 5 in teaching, and a 3 in service, and then all of the math is worked out and I’m told I get a 4.85% overall, when the percentages are applied, and by this time I don’t even give a shit. I just sign the form.
And the numbers aren’t the end of it, either, because our Chair and our Dean meet with us to discuss our evaluations and our yearly plans, and append comments, and the comments matter too.
This all gets put in some immense file somewhere, for the edification of the legislature and the accredidation committee, or so I am told; but I can’t believe that anyone anywhere wants to read 200+ files filled with this sort thing.
And then repeat the process at every university over the state.
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“So I get a 5 in research, and a 5 in teaching, and a 3 in service, and then all of the math is worked out and I’m told I get a 4.85% overall, when the percentages are applied, and by this time I don’t even give a shit.”
Yes, that’s an even weirder system. The only result is a mountain of useless paperwork.
“I can’t believe that anyone anywhere wants to read 200+ files filled with this sort thing.
And then repeat the process at every university over the state.”
Oh, absolutely. It’s all a total waste.
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