PORTFOLIO EVALUATION STANDARDS
Excellent: delivers outstanding performance, significantly exceeding "fair" performance standards
In general, an excellent instructor has a thorough knowledge of the course content, knows how to organize discipline content for a community college survey course, and submits a portfolio that meets the following standards:
1. A Statement of Teaching Philosophy that clearly states pedagogical
intent.
2. A Course Commentary that provides a detailed description of what
goes on in your course(s) when you are teaching and assessing student
learning of a single significant subject and explains how those approaches
and the items you've included in your portfolio reflect your teaching
philosophy.
3. A syllabus that complies with all the requirements of the Department
and the College as outlined in the Government Faculty Handbook. The syllabus
should be clear, concise, relevant, and considered binding on both instructor
and students. Because the syllabus is for the student's benefit, an excellent
syllabus should let the student know exactly what is expected day-by-day,
week-by-week, for the entire semester. In addition, an excellent syllabus
should be aesthetically pleasing, easy to read, and user-friendly.
4. A variety of up-to-date handouts/supplemental materials that illustrate
your efforts to help students learn. These should include learning objectives
or other study tools that reflect the course goals and objectives, and
supplemental materials (charts, graphs, overheads, classroom handouts)
that clarify key concepts and highlight recent developments in the political
system that aren't addressed in a textbook.
5. A variety of up-to-date projects or assignments that stimulate student
learning and that clearly relate to the course goals and objectives as
well as to students' lives. Assignments that give students the tools to
take beyond the Government classroom meet the definition of instructional
excellence.
6. Assessments that reflect the course goals and objectives, that are
technically proficient, and that are matched to the content of the syllabus
and the learning objectives. Tests should reflect a close alignment between
the course description, the course materials and handouts presented in
the portfolio, and instruction. Excellent tests include a variety of question
formats (such as multiple choice, true/false, short answer, fill in the
blank, matching, and essay) that go beyond measuring simple factual knowledge
and reflect more than reliance on a publisher's general-purpose test bank.
7. Writing components that are substantial and meaningful (in construction
and grade value). These may include items such as essay questions on exams,
term papers, reaction papers, and so on.
8. A Faculty Development Plan that is a clear, organized, and detailed
statement of the specific methods you will use to develop new tools or
techniques for the classroom, increase your knowledge of the field, keep
up with developments in the political system, and in other ways improve
as an instructor.
Very good: exceeds "fair" performance standards
In general, a very good instructor has a thorough knowledge of the course content and submits a portfolio that meets the following standards:
1. A Statement of Teaching Philosophy that clearly states pedagogical
intent.
2. A Course Commentary that provides a description of what goes on
in your course(s) when you are teaching and assessing student learning
of a single significant subject and explains how those approaches and
the items you've included in your portfolio reflect your teaching philosophy.
3. A syllabus that complies with all the requirements of the Department
and the College as outlined in the Government Faculty Handbook. A very
good syllabus lets students know what is expected of them throughout the
semester and is binding on both instructor and students.
4. A variety of handouts/supplemental materials that illustrate your
efforts to help students learn and that reflect the course goals and objectives.
In addition, a very good instructor provides supplemental materials that
clarify key concepts and highlight recent developments in the political
system that aren't addressed in a textbook.
5. A variety of projects or assignments that stimulate student learning
and that clearly relate to the course goals and objectives as well as
to students' lives.
6. Assessments that reflect the course goals and objectives, that are
technically proficient, and that are matched to the content of the syllabus
and the learning objectives. Tests should reflect a close alignment between
the course description, the course materials and handouts presented in
the portfolio, and instruction. Tests include a variety of question formats
(such as multiple choice, true/false, short answer, fill in the blank,
matching, and essay) that go beyond measuring simple factual knowledge
and reflect more than reliance on a publisher's general-purpose test bank.
7. Writing components that are substantial or meaningful (in construction
and grade value). These may include items such as essay questions on exams,
term papers, reaction papers, and so on.
8. A Faculty Development Plan that clearly summarizes the methods you
will use to develop new tools or techniques for the classroom, increase
your knowledge of the field, keep up with developments in the political
system, and in other ways improve as an instructor.
Fair: performs satisfactorily, meeting minimum performance standards
In general, a fair instructor has a thorough knowledge of course content and submits a portfolio that meets the following standards:
1. A Statement of Teaching Philosophy that clearly states pedagogical
intent.
2. A Course Commentary that provides a description of what goes on
in your course(s) when you are teaching and assessing student learning
of a single significant subject and explains how those approaches and
the items you've included in your portfolio reflect your teaching philosophy.
3. A syllabus that complies with all the requirements of the Department
and the College as outlined in the Government Faculty Handbook.
4. Handouts/supplemental materials that illustrate the your efforts
to help students learn and that reflect the course goals and objectives.
5. Projects or assignments that stimulate student learning and that
clearly relate to the course goals and objectives as well as to students'
lives.
6. Assessments that reflect the course goals and objectives, that are
technically proficient, and that are matched to the content of the syllabus
and the learning objectives. Tests should reflect a close alignment between
the course description, the course materials and handouts presented in
the portfolio, and instruction.
7. A Faculty Development Plan that identifies areas for improvement and clearly
maps out strategies for achieving stated goals.
Needs improvement: improvement required to fully meet minimum performance standards
The Government Department's definition of "fair" sets the minimum performance standards. A rating of "needs improvement" means failure to meet some of the Department's minimum standards. Failure to meet minimum standards could include submitting a portfolio that lacks some required components and/or contains some components that do not meet the standards for a rating of "fair." An instructor receiving a rating of "needs improvement" is automatically on probation and is expected to work with the Department Chair and Faculty Evaluations Committee Chair in developing a plan designed to bring all elements of the portfolio up to minimum standards. This plan should be developed within 90 days of receiving the evaluation and will be reviewed by the instructor and the Department Chair throughout the following academic year.
An instructor receiving a rating of "needs improvement" two years in a row is subject to dismissal.
Unacceptable: fails to meet performance standards
The Government Department's definition of "fair" sets the minimum performance standards. A rating of "unacceptable" means that a majority of the Department's minimum performance standards have not been met. An instructor receiving a rating of "unacceptable" is automatically on probation and is expected to work with the Department Chair and Faculty Evaluation Committee Chair in developing a plan designed to bring all elements of the portfolio up to minimum standards. This plan should be developed within 90 days of receiving the evaluation and will be reviewed by the instructor and the Department Chair throughout the following academic year.
An instructor who receives a rating of "unacceptable" two years in a row is subject to dismissal.