How to Rate Your Teacher

Most students have a strong opinion about how their teacher is doing in teaching the class.  Unlike college professors, students in elementary, middle and high school rarely get the chance to rate a teacher.  Instead, schools evaluate teacher performance based on how students perform on specific tests, or what the principal thinks of the teacher's performance.  This does not change the fact that students are the teacher's main "customer," and should therefore have a say in how well the teacher is performing.  This is the reason behind websites that have cropped up to give an unofficial way to rate teachers in K-12.

Rate My Teachers is a website that is designed to fill this need for students and possibly parents.  By going to this website, you can search by school site and find your specific teachers.  First, you identify the state you live in.  Then, you can type in the name of the school, or search from a list of schools until you find yours.  When your school appears, you will see a list of teachers and their current ratings.  To rate them, you click on their name and you are given the option of rating your teacher in four categories:  Easiness, Helpfulness, Clarity and popularity.  When you click the teacher's name, you will see their current ratings and get the opportunity to add your own.  You can rate a teacher between 1 and 5, with one being "bad" and five being great.  In addition, you can make comments as to why you gave the rating you did.  

When you decide to rate your teachers, you may find that not all teachers at the school are listed.  As a student, you have the power to add a teacher to the site.  Once you add that teacher, you will get an option to rate him or her.  Then just proceed as directed above.

While principals and school boards may not listen to students in terms of teacher performance, students have the power to communicate their feelings with each other through these and other websites.  Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter also give students the power to discuss teachers and rate teachers in a community of friends.

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