The Rank and Tenure committees also look at a summary report of the applicants CATS scores. CATS was designed by a committee of faculty and administrators, and was circulated to the entire faculty for comments and revisions. It was inaugurated in 1997. While there have been a number of changes in the administration of CATS, the University has resisted changes to the basic questions themselves, thinking that it was better to stick with the instrument until such time as it was thought to be useful to have a full-scale review. Student ratings are only one tool for helping to improve teaching.
Ratings can be a valuable source of information that aids in instructional improvement.
In this regard, the role of one's peers or chairperson, confidential interviews with students, responses to open-ended questions, and teaching workshops are probably more valuable. Faculty members should be encouraged to do their own confidential surveys during the course of the semester. Administrators and peer committees who rely on student ratings have a responsibility to be educated in the interpretation of these data. Extensive research has been done on student ratings and those who use these data should be aware of the strengths and limitations of student ratings. When using student ratings for evaluative purposes, look primarily at data that include multiple classes or sections across several semesters, and from classes that have at least 10 raters and two-thirds of the class present.