Colleagues and peers are necessary contributors to evaluation of a tenure candidate's teaching. They are best qualified to evaluate the candidate's breadth and depth of subject matter knowledge, course design skills, and assessment strategies for determining students' learning the material. The information necessary for colleagues and peers to evaluate these kinds of skills must be thorough without being redundant. To be most effective, the peer evaluation process should be neutral, open, relatively unthreatening and structured, all of which can be enhanced through the use of standardized rating and observation procedures and criteria. Standardization is a precaution stimulated by the evidence that colleagues' ratings may not be statistically reliable.
Several factors are critical in ensuring a valid and fair peer review process.
What questions are asked and answered by the reviewers is central. Some kind of replicable protocol is necessary to ensure fairness and accountability for the process. This is true for whatever data is being reviewed, whether course materials, classroom performance or student learning. Developing a set of questions to focus the reviewer can make the task less arbitrary and subjective. The entire review process by peers should be governed by a set of procedures established within the department.