Correlation between grade point averages and student evaluation of teaching scores: taking a closer look

One of the most contentious potential sources of bias is whether instructors who give higher grades receive higher ratings from students. We examined the grade point averages (GPAs) and student ratings across 2073 general education religion courses at a large private university. A moderate correlation was found between GPAs and student evaluations of teaching (SETs); however, this global correlation did not hold true for individual teachers and courses. In fact, there was a large variance in the correlations between GPAs and SETs, including some teachers with a negative correlation and a large variance between courses.