"We look at the CUE Guide evaluations and[graduate] students with good evaluations are verysought-after as teaching fellows," O'Connell says."If a student has a bad evaluation, then we advisethem to get help from the [Derek C.] Bok Center[for Teaching and Learning]."

"If a student or a teaching fellow had a badrating, we would recommend he improve his teachingability before he was hired," O'Connell says.

The ratings are also used in considering thepromotions of junior faculty.

Although the University does not mandatedepartmental use of CUE forms, EPS accepts solidratings as a factor in promotion and tenuredecisions, O'Connell says.

"In our internal deliberations within thedepartment, we certainly take them into account,"O'Connell says. "In fact, these are forwarded tothe University administration as part of thedocumentation of the department's recommendationfor promotion."

History of Science is another department thatemphasizes CUE ratings.

"We use the reports on teaching that come fromthe CUE process for promotions of faculty and,where it comes up, we use the CUE Guide as oneindication for reports on teaching," says EverettI. Mendelsohn, professor of the history of scienceand the acting chair of the department.

With regard to teaching fellows, "we certainlydo read the CUE Guide reports when they come tous, and on the basis of those, we directly consultwith the TF...and we review with those havingdifficulties questions about their teaching andsee if they can get some help," Mendelsohn says.

In Social Analysis 10: "Introduction toEconomics," a class known for itsstrictly-screened and well-respected TFs, CUEratings are considered a valid barometer of ateacher's effectiveness.

"I would say we take them very seriously, butthey are not the only indicator of how well ateacher is doing," says Brian J. Hall, assistantprofessor of economics and the head teachingfellow for Ec 10.

Hall says CUE ratings are combined with aninternal evaluation, a videotaped performance andself-evaluations to give section leaders feedbackon their teaching and in making hiring decisions.

"The main goal of using these tools is toimprove the teachers that we have and to try tohelp them become better...so we look for a totalpicture and this is one important element," Hallsays. "We take teaching very seriously, bothhiring and improving."

`What's a four?'

While junior faculty and teaching fellowsgenerally say ratings are fair, they are quick topoint out limitations of student evaluations thatonly offer students a numerical range of one tofive. They say the evaluations should not be usedexclusively in hiring and promotion decisions.

"You want some sense of teaching ability in anyreview of a professor's ability," says AssociateProfessor of Economics John V. Leahy. The CUEGuide, he says, offers only a vague and oftenarbitrary standard by which students can judgetheir teachers.