Effects of lecturer quality and student perception of lecturer's experience on teacher ratings and student achievement.

Previous research in college settings on the correlation between teacher ratings and student achievement has produced inconsistent results. Discrepancies may be due to study-to-study differences in teacher and/or student characteristics. 237 university students were tested to investigate a student-based explanation of the discrepancies. Lecturer quality and student perception of lecturer's experience (a student characteristic) were manipulated in a 2?×?2 design in which achievement and ratings were measured. Major findings indicate that (a) the ratings/achievement relationship varied with students' belief about lecturer experience, supporting a student-based explanation of the discrepancies that supplements a previous teacher-based explanation; and (b) lecturer quality affected ratings much more than achievement, threatening the field use of ratings when predictions are made without regression equations about a teacher's impact on student achievement. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)