Faculty Evaluation: Number One Quality Control in TQM [Total Quality Management].

The current perception of faculty tenure as a guarantee of a job for life can impede the removal of teachers who do not perform up to standards. Such faculty, however, can have an extremely negative effect on overall college quality, and studies have shown that community college faculty do support post-tenure evaluation if it is responsibly carried out. To maintain a commitment to quality in all areas, colleges must adopt legally defensible faculty evaluation systems to ensure quality in the classroom. At Bay de Noc Community College (BNCC), in Michigan, after unsuccessful efforts to dismiss a poorly performing teacher, a committee of faculty began to develop a new evaluation process. The committee conducted itself as a quality circle and developed a policy of faculty development appraisal, determined performance appraisal procedures, established the Board of Trustees' right to manage the institution, affirmed faculty's responsibility to deliver quality instruction, constructed a list of characteristics of good teaching that were observable and measurable, and agreed upon activities both inside and outside the classroom for which faculty had responsibility. The poorly performing faculty member was re-evaluated using the new system and allowed time to remediate deficiencies. When his teaching quality did not improve, he was successfully dismissed. The new evaluation system has improved the quality of instruction and faculty morale at BNCC. Contains 10 references. (KP)