The most common way for students to evaluate college teachers is through paper or electronic surveys that generally use a five- or seven-point Likert scale. A Likert scale involves a statement, such as "The teacher used course materials throughout the semester adequately," followed by a set of responses, ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." Students may be interviewed during the semester, after it ends, or as an alumni. Student evaluations are generally anonymous.
Fellow faculty members also regularly evaluate teachers. These faculty members can be inside or outside of the evaluated teacher's department. Peer reviews may be done through document analysis of syllabi and other materials, or observation of a lecture, seminar or other teaching setting. Peer reviews are generally not anonymous.
Self-evaluation by the teacher is considered as important as the other two methods. Teachers self-review through written statements or verbal interviews. The formal and informal evaluation methods, such as student, peer, and self-evaluations are all compiled into one larger document to analyze the teacher's overall teaching skills and methods, as opposed to evaluation on a class-by-class basis. These reports are used when college teachers are up for tenure, promotion, or in the case of non-tenure-track teachers, a yearly contract review.
Student reviews are sometimes attacked for reliability. Student evaluations are generally offered before the final grade is recorded, but students that expect to receive poorer grades tend to give more negative reviews. Peer evaluations are considered, by some, the most useful because an expert is doing the evaluation, but this practice does not occur at many institutions. Finally, self-reflections are useful, but as with any self-evaluation, reliability may be limited.