The Provost and Deans have asked schools or departments to develop transparent guidelines for the evaluation of teaching effectiveness. This is in response to shared governance — a December 2022 recommendation from the Faculty Affairs Committee to move forward on this issue — and a decade of calls by faculty across appointment types for improved transparency, consistency, and research-informed practices in the evaluation of teaching (see the Historical Overview for more information). Transparent standards for teaching effectiveness and clear evaluation processes support our commitment to effective teaching and provide clear expectations for faculty.
Unless they have already done so departments or schools will draft and begin to implement guidelines drawing upon materials and templates developed over the past three years in a consultative, collaborative, and faculty-driven process informed by the scholarship of teaching and learning. These Teaching Effectiveness Standards and Evaluation (TESE or “Tessy”) materials serve as a resource for programs in their articulation of selected dimensions of teaching effectiveness and the multiple sources of evidence that faculty will be expected to provide for their evaluations. Programs are welcome simply to use these materials with minor adjustments as an initial pilot.
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All programs at the department or school level will draw upon these materials and select one of two timelines (Cycle A or Cycle B) to develop program-specific standards and guidelines during winter-spring 2023 or during the 2023-24 school year, and will pilot draft materials by the fall of 2023 or 2024. Programs should indicate their choice of timelines here. TESE guidelines will be finalized, approved, and in use for all evaluation by Fall 2025.
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Pilot TESE Materials will be reviewed by an ad hoc committee appointed by Faculty Affairs and the Provost’s Office.
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After piloting program TESE for one evaluation cycle (with faculty opting in to the initial pilot year), then implementing revisions in response to school or department use and feedback, Deans will review and recommend to Provost for final approval; under auspices of the Provost, Faculty Affairs will establish a repository for all approved standards.
There are two options for submitting. The simplest one (Option A) invites programs to use this worksheet to fill out all the criteria required for the TESE submission, including the definition of teaching effectiveness, the guidelines, the rubric, and all the supporting documentation. Please download the worksheet and make a copy for your own use. The completed worksheet can be uploaded using this Google Form on the TESE Tracker website.
Option B uses the same Google Form for submission, but each required element will be uploaded as a separate document. Departments should review the checklist for their pilot TESE process and materials to be sure they have completed all the required elements.
The TESE tracker can be used to upload materials and to view all approved TESE pilots.
By February 24, 2023
Provosts and Deans ask departments to draw on guidelines materials to draft and implement TESE on one of two cycles.
By March 15, 2023
Departments choose cycle A or B and communicate choice to Provosts and Deans via Google form. Semester schools use Cycle B or suggest alternative dates for Cycle A in 2023-2024.
Cycle A: 2023-2024
To submit a document, use the Upload Portal on the TESE Tracker. It will take you to the Google submission form for the step you are completing.
Winter / Spring 2023:
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- Begin work on TESE Drafts
- Department or Disciplinary Area Workshops / Discussions of Drafts March-April
- Final version TESE drafts due April 20 (Upload Portal, step #1)
- Committee feedback May-June 1
- Resubmissions and approval June-July (Upload Portal, step #2)
- Posted for Department use one month prior to FAR submission or September 1
- Pilot use Fall 23 evaluation cycle (faculty opt in)
Winter / Spring 2024:
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- Department TESE Pilot evaluation by March 1 (Upload Portal, step #3)
- Department / Disciplinary Area Workshops / Discussions of TESE pilots March 1-March 30
- Revised (or unchanged and finalized) TESE pilot documents submitted for approval April 30 (Upload Portal, steps #4-5)
- Approved TESE posted for faculty August 1 (at “Approved Final TESE” on TESE Tracker), and in use Fall 24 faculty evaluation cycle
Cycle B: 2024-2025
To submit a document, click the appropriate header link on the TESE Tracker. It will take you to the Google submission form for the step you are completing.
Winter / Spring 2024
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- Begin work on TESE Drafts
- Department or Disciplinary Area Workshops / Discussions of Drafts Feb-March
- Final version TESE drafts due April 1 (Upload Portal, step #1)
- Committee feedback April-May
- Resubmissions and approval May- June (Upload Portal, step #2)
- Posted for Department use one month prior to FAR submission or September 1
- Pilot use Fall 24 evaluation cycle (faculty opt in)
Winter / Spring 2025:
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- Department TESE Pilot evaluation by March 1 (Upload Portal, step #3)
- Department / Disciplinary Area Workshops / Discussions of TESE pilots March 1-March 30
- Revised (or unchanged and finalized) TESE pilot documents submitted for approval April 30 (Upload Portal, steps #4-5)
- Approved TESE posted for faculty August 1 (at “Approved Final TESE” on TESE Tracker), and in use Fall 25 faculty evaluation cycle
The Teaching Effectiveness Standards and Evaluation (TESE) Guidelines provide an overview of the criteria for effective teaching and a template to guide teaching evaluation. We recommend you download this or make a copy to save to your Google Drive.
You can also refer to sample submission materials below. These resources include additional materials, such as a rubric to guide evaluation, and ways of tailoring expectations for faculty of varying position types, all part of the requirements for a department's TESE process.
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Blank form for department/program use: TESE worksheet
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"Social Science" Department completed sample worksheet
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"Social Science" Department completed sample guidelines
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SCU examples: see approved pilots and final TESEs on the TESE Tracker