LAUSR

Abstract There are no absolute standards regarding what teaching evaluation ratings are satisfactory. It is also problematic to compare teaching evaluation ratings with the average or with a cutoff number to determine whether they are adequate. In this paper, we use average and standard deviation charts ( charts), which are based on the theory of statistical process control, to assess five-year teaching evaluation ratings at a management school. We demonstrate that the upper and lower three-sigma limits of charts are sufficiently robust to unbiasedly identify comparatively exceptional teaching evaluation ratings. This research work makes two recommendations concerning teaching and teaching evaluations: teachers should look for special causes, which contribute to exceptional teaching evaluation ratings outside the three-sigma limits, for the purpose of making improvements or maintaining good teaching performance; if teaching evaluation ratings are used for decision-making, the teaching evaluation ratings within the three-sigma limits represent normal teaching performance and thus should not be treated differently.