The University of Tennessee Teaching Effectiveness Score

Abstract

Objectives: We studied medical student evaluation of their Obstetrics and Gynecology faculty defined as Teaching Effectiveness Score (TES). We also evaluated the role of sharing TES to all faculty transparently in enhancing teaching interest among faculty.

Methods: Students evaluated faculty with questions: Which faculty enhanced or least aided your learning and why? The TES was calculated by adding the number of positive comments, subtracting the negative comments, and dividing this total by the amount of students on the rotation. TES was distributed to all attending physicians via email allowing faculty to see each other's evaluaton.

Results: 203 third-year medical students evaluated 25 attending physicians. The median TES was 3.2 percent (range -0.4 to 100 percent) with two attending physicians scoring high (p<0.01). A trend test showed the change was quadratic: the faculty's TES increased initially then decreased over time (p=0.053 to 0.409). A high TES is associated with teaching awards. High TES is not associated with age (p=0.77), academic rank (p=0.71), gender (p=0.89), race (p=0.55).

Conclusion: TES measured teaching effectiveness as perceived by students. Transparency of TES induced interests in teaching initially but then declined with time.