RateMyTeachers
Encyclopedia
RateMyTeachers, abbreviated as RMT, is a controversial review site
used to rate elementary
and secondary school
teachers' performance (and popularity). Participants give numerical ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 in four different categories to their current or former elementary and secondary school teachers. Visitors can also write a brief comment based on their experience with the teacher. Over eleven million teachers are graded on the website as of April 2010 . The site was launched in August 2001 by Michael Hussey, as part of the now defunct RateMy Network. The site is still however one of the most comprehensive educational rating sites on the web.
The four categories used for rating teachers are Clarity, Helpfulness, Popularity, and the most controversial; Easiness. The ratings for Clarity and Helpfulness are tallied and averaged, giving an average score for each teacher. Easiness is not factored into the overall score
, as the sites owners maintain that an "easy" score is not necessarily a good score.
In addition to students being able to rate their teachers, parents have the option of rating the performance of their children's teachers on Expectations, Difficulty, and Respect. The website claims that over 70% of teachers are rated positively, 20% score a medium range, and 10% rate poorly.
The website is extremely controversial in some circles and its use is banned by many school networks. These schools are listed on the website's "Wall of Shame" page.
RateMyTeachers currently operates websites in the United States
, United Kingdom
, Canada
, Ireland
, Australia
and New Zealand
.
Students may volunteer to perform moderator duties for their own school. These students are asked to write a short essay about why they are interested in participating in RateMyTeachers. Selected students are trained to administer the ratings submitted to teachers within their school. The site is also managed by 'Master Administrators' who monitor the operation of the entire site and oversee the actions of the school moderators. A moderator who has been moderating for 90 or more days is reviewed by one of the Master Administrators to become a Trusted Moderator which allows the pupil to moderate for schools without a moderator.
One significant difficulty is that posters and moderators are entirely subjective in their comments and mediations. With no true measure of teacher effectiveness being used, such as student learning gain, comments and ratings become meaningless to the astute reader.
Another difficulty is the presentation of vindictive or misleading ratings and comments by visitors masquerading as genuine pupils which also undermines the ability of the site to present genuine ratings.
said that the online harassment of teachers performed by sites such as RateMyTeachers needs to stop. This caused a number of articles on RateMyTeachers by national and international press.
In fact, teachers have recently taken to adding Michael P. Hussey, Jr.'s name to their schools' listings with a description of him as an Internet Terrorist, who defames teachers' reputations through the unauthorized use of their name and anonymous postings by fake students.
.
Review site
A review site is a website on which reviews can be posted about people, businesses, products, or services. These sites may use Web 2.0 techniques to gather reviews from site users or may employ professional writers to author reviews on the topic of concern for the site...
used to rate elementary
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
and secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
teachers' performance (and popularity). Participants give numerical ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 in four different categories to their current or former elementary and secondary school teachers. Visitors can also write a brief comment based on their experience with the teacher. Over eleven million teachers are graded on the website as of April 2010 . The site was launched in August 2001 by Michael Hussey, as part of the now defunct RateMy Network. The site is still however one of the most comprehensive educational rating sites on the web.
The four categories used for rating teachers are Clarity, Helpfulness, Popularity, and the most controversial; Easiness. The ratings for Clarity and Helpfulness are tallied and averaged, giving an average score for each teacher. Easiness is not factored into the overall score
, as the sites owners maintain that an "easy" score is not necessarily a good score.
In addition to students being able to rate their teachers, parents have the option of rating the performance of their children's teachers on Expectations, Difficulty, and Respect. The website claims that over 70% of teachers are rated positively, 20% score a medium range, and 10% rate poorly.
The website is extremely controversial in some circles and its use is banned by many school networks. These schools are listed on the website's "Wall of Shame" page.
RateMyTeachers currently operates websites in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Moderation and rules
RateMyTeachers has a set of rules that posters are encouraged to read before commenting on a teacher. The rules detail what pupils can and cannot comment on. Some of the things banned from comments are personal or family life, appearance, looks or personal hygiene. Problems with the law, race or sex and anything containing pupil names or email addresses are also banned. All comments are reviewed and approved by volunteer moderators to ensure they are consistent with the site's rules or guidelines before they are posted on the website.Students may volunteer to perform moderator duties for their own school. These students are asked to write a short essay about why they are interested in participating in RateMyTeachers. Selected students are trained to administer the ratings submitted to teachers within their school. The site is also managed by 'Master Administrators' who monitor the operation of the entire site and oversee the actions of the school moderators. A moderator who has been moderating for 90 or more days is reviewed by one of the Master Administrators to become a Trusted Moderator which allows the pupil to moderate for schools without a moderator.
One significant difficulty is that posters and moderators are entirely subjective in their comments and mediations. With no true measure of teacher effectiveness being used, such as student learning gain, comments and ratings become meaningless to the astute reader.
Another difficulty is the presentation of vindictive or misleading ratings and comments by visitors masquerading as genuine pupils which also undermines the ability of the site to present genuine ratings.
Broken system
Since 2010, ratings have been appearing on the UK site without being moderated. Also, moderators have lost their ability to modify teachers and review ratings. Master administrators no longer seem to reply to emails. It appears that the system is in some way broken; however, no official response has been given from RMT staff when questioned via email. This has, in fact, led to speculation that the site, though still online, is now unstaffed.Controversy
RateMyTeachers is controversial in certain circles and many have questioned its approach. In 2007, the Queensland College of Teachers called for the shutdown of the page "until it can be established that it provides a credible service." In 2003, the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) sought a court injunction to shut down the site, though the request was denied on free speech grounds. In April 2007 the British education secretary Alan JohnsonAlan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was...
said that the online harassment of teachers performed by sites such as RateMyTeachers needs to stop. This caused a number of articles on RateMyTeachers by national and international press.
Student names/Teacher Names
A major problem currently facing those who moderate for RateMyTeachers is the problem of fake teacher listings. Often, student names and fake names are added to the website in an attempt to sabotage the website and discredit it. It has been suggested in recent UK Teaching journals that this measure should be used to 'ruin the website'.In fact, teachers have recently taken to adding Michael P. Hussey, Jr.'s name to their schools' listings with a description of him as an Internet Terrorist, who defames teachers' reputations through the unauthorized use of their name and anonymous postings by fake students.
International development
Rating teachers has also become increasingly popular in Europe. In Ireland and the UK RateMyTeachers' sister sites, RateMyTeachers.co.uk and RateMyTeachers.ie, sparked great controversy about freedom of speechFreedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
.
RateMyTeachers Unlocked
RateMyTeachers in early 2009 released RateMyTeachers Unlocked, a subscription service that allows full access to the site and comments not shown to the free community. This service has since been discontinued and full access is once more available to all members.See also
- RateMyProfessors.comRateMyProfessors.comRateMyProfessors.com is a review site, founded in May 1999 by John Swapceinski, a software engineer from Menlo Park, California, which allows college and university students to assign ratings to professors and campuses of American, Canadian, and United Kingdom institutions. The site was originally...
- Inkampus.com - College Students
- GradeABase - College course difficulty ratings.
- MyFaveTeacher.com - A similar teacher rating website for Indian college students