The Impact of Sef on the Academic Freedom of Mathematics Instructors

The Impact of SEF on the Academic Freedom of Mathematics Instructors

Within mathematics education, student evaluation of faculty (SEF), despite its almost universal use, has been a subject of controversy for some decades. As one professor asserts, “mathematics faculty have been grappling with what it means to be an effective teacher and how to evaluate such effectiveness” (Collier). However, with much of the attention aimed toward their effectiveness and potential bias, the impact of SEF on the instructor’s academic freedom has been addressed only sparingly. As Robert Haskell, one of the few researchers on the topic, has noted, the very notion “is seen as not only a novel idea, but as an attack on either students, or a general attack on evaluating faculty.” And yet SEF is used in many colleges to evaluate faculty for tenure and promotional considerations, so its effect on instructors should not be undermined. One scholarly essay states that “at many institutions, the results of these evaluations are used for key personnel decisions” (Wines and Lau, 179). Research with a specific focus on mathematics education is also sparse, and while general research can often be applied to mathematics, there are factors involved in teaching math that can seriously impact the validity of SEF. When math teachers’ careers and even their jobs are determined by student evaluations, the incentive to obtain favorable ratings can be strong enough to affect the way they teach to an extent that infringes on their academic freedom.

Mathematics instructors in particular face difficulties that make this particular issue more prevalent than in other fields. The majority of undergraduate math courses are taken by students in fields other than mathematics, and thus inherent student interest in these classes need not be present. According to one college, “Over 80% of the credits generated by the [math] department are earned by students who are not majors or minors in mathematics” (Collier)....