FCSM Guidelines for Evaluating Adjunct Faculty Teaching

Departments shall regularly evaluate the teaching by Adjunct Faculty members in a manner that identifies high-level performance according to the department's standards.  Evaluations shall be kept on record in a personnel file and shall be consulted when decisions about promotion, compensation, and any subsequent appointments are made.

Specific Classroom Guidelines and Expectations for teaching evaluations will be established by each Department.  Adjunct Faculty members should demonstrate effective teaching. Teaching should be in substantial conformance with:

  • Course descriptions as they appear in the current University catalog
  • Course outlines and related documents provided by the department/program coordinator
  • The learning objectives in the course syllabus

Measures of teaching effectiveness will include the following.

  • Student evaluations
  • Exam grade distributions and final course grade distributions
  • Peer observations 
  1. All Adjunct Faculty members' student evaluations and grade distributions should be monitored by the Department Chair (or a designee) every semester.  Adjunct Faculty may be observed at any time, with the frequency of observations determined at the discretion of the Department Chair.
  2. At a minimum, Adjunct I Faculty will be observed during their first semester of teaching.  At the discretion of the Department Chair, additional visitations may be scheduled keeping in mind that at least three evaluations will be needed for advancement to Adjunct II Faculty status.
  3. Beyond their third year of teaching for the Department, Adjunct (I, II and III) Faculty will be observed periodically, at the discretion of the Department Chair.
  4. Protocol for observation:

    1. Classroom observations will be documented using the standard Department forms.
    2. While classroom observations are usually scheduled with the Adjunct Faculty member, occasionally the observation may be unannounced.
    3. A post-observation meeting should be done within two weeks of the observation at which time the Adjunct Faculty member will be able to review the written summary of the observation.  Feedback should include comments about organization of the class, class environment, engagement of the students, and clarity of presentation.
    4. Adjunct Faculty will have the opportunity to respond in writing to the written evaluation.
  5. A procedure should be in place to evaluate Adjunct Faculty teaching online courses.