CU-Boulder Boulder Faculty Assembly Administrator Appraisal Program
Technical Support by Planning, Budget and Analysis
1997 BFA Administrator Appraisal Program Results
Here we report results of the annual Administrator Appraisal Program, conducted spring 1997.
Faculty and senior instructors had the opportunity to grade the performance of 12 campus-wide administrators, two university-wide administrators, and 32 college administrators. The 1997 forms had four items rather than the 15-17 used in prior years. In addition, 1997 raters made all ratings on only three forms (campus-wide, system, college) rather than completing a separate form for each administrator.
Of the eligible raters, 39% (455 of 1,179) returned forms, up from 29% responding in 1996. The 1,179 raters rated an average of nine administrators each and wrote 659 comments-- more than double the number in 1996. There is enormous variance in ratings across administrators: The percentage of A ratings ranges from 8% to 76%; percentage of F, from zero to 36%.
The AAP Committee conducted an experiment in 1997 to determine if and how AAP ratings would differ if a higher proportion of faculty responded. We prompted a random sample of 10% of the eligible raters with letters and phone calls; 60% of the prompted raters vs. 36% of the unprompted returned forms. All responses were anonymous. Prompted raters gave ratings averaging slightly higher-- .25 grade points-- than unprompted raters. Average ratings made by prompted and unprompted raters yield rank orders of administrators that are virtually identical. These results suggest no reason to change AAP procedures for future years, or to question the basic validity of the ratings.
Ratings of overall administrative performance averaged about .25 of a grade point lower in 1997 than in 1996, with increases of .25 or more for two administrators, minimal change for 14, and decreases of at least .25 for 17 (decreases exceed .50 grade points for five). These changes could well be due to the changes in items and in form layout between 1996 and 1997, or in level of participation, rather than to actual change in rater satisfaction.
The table shows response rates, number of responses, percentage distributions, averages, and letter grades on all of the administrators rated in this cycle, plus number of responses, average rating, and letter grade from 1996. The results shown are based on responses to the question on overall administrative performance. The scale was very good (A) to very poor (F). This question is highly correlated with the other three items and represents a fair summary of the results.
Response rates for individual administrators range from 5% to 63%. Thus, the results do not estimate the opinions of all faculty, but of those who are sufficiently interested, knowledgeable, and committed to speak up. Raters gave the following ratings averaged across all administrators evaluated
- Scholarly credibility M 1.00 (scale: Low, Medium, High, 0-2)
- Effectiveness of leadership C+ 2.46 (scale: F to A, 0 to 4 point grade scale)
- Respect for faculty views B- 2.64
- Overall administrative performance B- 2.51
Additional results are available at http://www.colorado.edu/pba/index.htm.
Transcribed copies of all comments have been provided to individual administrators only. Many of the comments are extremely positive, many negative, with considerable disagreement among raters. They provide a rich source of information not only on opinions about specific administrators, but on what faculty members do and do not value.
Questions? Contact BFA co-chairs Uriel Nauenberg (uriel@colohe.colorado.edu, 2-7715), Daryl Winn (winn@spot.colorado.edu, 2-6186), or Karl Gustafson (gustafs@euclid.colorado.edu, 2-7752) or Lou McClelland of Student Affairs Research Services (lou.mcclelland@colorado.edu, 2-6730), or any of the committee members: Greg Carey (gregory.carey@colorado.edu, 2-1658), Richard Seebass (r.seebass@colorado.edu, 2-2926), or Gordon Sandford (gordon.sandford@colorado.edu, 2-8315)
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Last Updated 9/98