|
« AAUP Homepage
|
Portfolio Paranoia
Roberta Ralston Dimond
To the Editor:
Congratulations to Candace Burns for "Another Perspective," her article in the January–February issue about the mad dash to assess and grade our teachers referred to as "portfolio paranoia." Her criticism about the dearth of research on this time-consuming activity and its supposed benefits is telling. Yes, "reflecting" and evaluating one’s own effectiveness is worthy, but need it be done in this "faddish fashion" of collecting all the contributions you made during the year and offering them up annually to the "merit-pay gods"? We have student ratings of teachers included in our portfolios, but there is no campuswide mean or statistical standard to know if your 1.4 rating (1 being best and 5 being worst) is really top-drawer or average. I also wish there were a way to keep "politics" out of the judging of these portfolios. How about having the professors numbered with no way to know who they are? (Sure, in my dreams, because those political connections make a difference in all issues on all campuses.) Anyway, her courage was commendable and her fresh perspective provocative.
Roberta Ralston Dimond
(Liberal Arts)
Delaware Valley College
|