Grades and college students' evaluations of their courses and teachers

From a review of existing research, it is concluded that college students' anticipated or actual grades in class are positively related to their evaluation of their courses and teachers. In general, the size of the association is small but not unimportant. A student's overall grade-point average appears to have little or no relationship to teacher or course evaluation, although limited evidence shows that a discrepancy between a student's grade-point average and his or her grade in a class is related to evaluations. Also, teacher- or course-induced interest in the subject is positively associated with evaluation, as are students' perceptions of the amount they have learned in a class and their performance on objective or standardized tests of achievement. Although it is thus possible that either these or other motivational and learning variables may account for the relationship between grades and evaluation, there is no evidence one way or the other that this indeed is the case. In all, currently available evidence cannot be taken as definitely establishing a bias in teacher evaluation due to the grades students receive or expect to receive in their courses, but neither is it presently possible to rule out such bias.This is the first paper of a projected series on teacher and course evaluation.