2 Studies Shed New Light on the Meaning of Course Evaluations

By David Glenn

Under the mandate of a recently enacted state law, the Web sites of public colleges and universities in Texas will soon include student-evaluation ratings for each and every undergraduate course. Bored and curious people around the planet—steelworkers in Ukraine, lawyers in Peru, clerical workers in India—will be able, if they're so inclined, to learn how students feel about Geology 3430 at Texas State University at San Marcos.

But how should the public interpret those