Student Evaluations of Teachers, Student Ratings of Teacher Behaviors, and Their Relationship to Student Achievement : A Cross Ethnic Comparison

Problem. This study was conducted to determine (1) whether student evaluations of teachers and ratings of teacher behaviors are related to the ethnicity of the students, (2) the relationship between overall student evaluations of teachers, classes, and ratings of teacher behaviors, and (3) the relationship between student evaluations of teachers, ratings of teacher behaviors, and student achievement. Method. Two teacher evaluation instruments were administered to students in undergraduate classes at a Christian college and a Christian university. The Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) was used as a high-inference evaluation form and the Teacher Behavior Inventory (TBT) was used as a low-inference rating form. The sample included 414 students from one college with a multicultural population and 67 students from one college with a homogeneous ethnic population. Results. In both the college and the university, no relationship was found between ethnicity and student evaluations of teachers. In the multiethnic setting, differences were found between the ratings of teacher behaviors by Caucasian students and the students from the remaining ethnic groups (p $ Conclusions. Students in general tend to give teachers positive evaluations and there were no significant differences among evaluations of teachers done by students from different ethnic groups. However, students from different ethnic groups perceive teacher behaviors differently and give teachers overall evaluations based on different behaviors. Different teacher behaviors are also weakly related to achievement of college students from different ethnic groups. Teachers may be able to improve teaching by learning what behaviors work well with different groups and include a variety of methods in the classroom.