VALIDITY OF STUDENT-RATINGS OF INSTRUCTION - WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE DO NOT

We argue that the multisection validation design is the strongest design for addressing the degree to which student ratings predict teacher-produced learning. Results of several dozen multisection validity studies appear inconsistent. Unfortunately, prior quantitative reviews did not answer questions about the diversity of findings. The authors explore sensitivity of the prior analyses to identify true explanatory characteristics, generalizability of the findings across dimensions of teaching, and adequacy of the analyses to identify potential explanatory characteristics. They conclude that prior analyses lack adequate statistical power, explanatory characteristics vary with the dimension of teaching being validated, and a host of other study features remain to be investigated. Those features are identified through nomological coding of 43 validity studies.