Understanding (Dis)Agreement in Student Ratings of Teaching and the Quality of the Learning Environment

Abstract

AbstractStudent surveys are increasingly being used to collect information about important aspects of learning environments. Research shows that aggregate indicators from these surveys (e.g., school or classroom averages) are reliable and correlate with important climate indicators and with student outcomes. However, we know less about whether within-classroom or within-school variation in student survey responses may contain additional information about the learning environment beyond that conveyed by average indicators. This question is important in light of mounting evidence that the educational experiences of different students and student groups can vary, even within the same school or classroom, in terms of opportunities for participation, teacher expectations, or the quantity and quality of teacher–student interactions, among others. In this chapter, we offer an overview of literature from different fields examining consensus for constructing average indicators, and consider it alongside the key assumptions and consequences of measurement models and analytic methods commonly used to summarize student survey reports of instruction and learning environments. We also consider recent empirical evidence that variation in student survey responses within classrooms can reflect systematically different experiences related to features of the school or classroom, instructional practices, student background, or a combination of these, and that these differences can predict variation in important academic and social-emotional outcomes. In the final section, we discuss the implications for evaluation, policy, equity, and instructional improvement.