Merit System for Teachers

What makes a good college teacher? How can colleges be sure that they are promoting a teacher on his merits?

The University of Washington believes that it can now answer both these questions with a precision heretofore unknown on U.S. campuses. Now ready for use, the new plan lets the teacher be judged by his own colleagues. They in turn are guided by standards which the Washington faculty as a whole laid down in answer to a recent questionnaire. The novel application of these standards was worked out by Dean Edwin Ray Guthrie, recently chief consultant psychologist on the U.S. Army General Staff.

Twinkle-eyed, 58-year-old Dean Guthrie recognizes that his five-man jury of the candidate's colleagues is not an innovation. What is new is the way his jury works. Guthrie's advisory committees of five will never meet except on paper, thus avoiding faculty politics and personal salesmanship. Committee members will rate the candidate privately, on a nine-point scale which evaluates, in order of decreasing weight, his: 1) teaching effectiveness, 2) research and publication, 3) university activities, 4) value to the community, 5) cooperation, 6) grasp of his field, 7) general range of interest, 8) current rate of professional growth, 9) recognition by his profession.

A teacher's students may also have a say in his promotion. If the candidate wishes, they will be asked to rate him on the following points: 1) grasp of his field, 2) clarity of classroom exposition, 3) interest in his classes' progress, 4) friendliness of manner, 5) enthusiasm for his subject.

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