Faculty Evaluation

Austin Community College (ACC) values quality teaching and the importance of a learning environment that helps faculty grow by supporting the continuous improvement of their teaching skills.  

The Office of Faculty Evaluation maintains and implements Austin Community College (ACC) District faculty evaluation timelines and procedures recommended by the Faculty Development and Evaluation shared governance committee. Evaluation is required for faculty counselors, full-time/adjunct faculty, and faculty librarians. The evaluation process is intended to provide feedback to faculty on the effectiveness of their classroom instruction and aid in the development of their professional development plans.

Faculty are evaluated each year.   Required for ALL FACULTY: Syllabi (see the required components below),  Faculty Reflection Forms (due at the end of each semester), compliance with the college's Mandatory Training and completion of the minimum number of Professional Development Hours required (adjunct = 4; FT = 12). Adherence to deadlines is part of the review.  

For more information on the faculty evaluation cycle and criteria for both full-time and adjunct faculty, go to Faculty Evaluation.

For SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS, you may need to submit based on your evaluation cycle year, see the section below.

All syllabi and assignments/tests/projects will be peer reviewed.  The remaining portfolio items will be reviewed by members of the Faculty Evaluation Committee.   

Note:  Full-time faculty are required to participate in the peer review of syllabi and the assignments/tests/projects submitted by faculty members in YEAR 3 of the evaluation cycle.  Adjunct faculty may volunteer for the peer review.  

Categories for evaluation include: 

Teaching and Student Learning  

(Please see Evaluation Rubric for CLS Faculty (4.06.25) for examples of evidence and benchmarks)

Student Feedback and Faculty Reflection 

( Course Evaluations and Faculty Reflection on those evaluations in the Faculty Reflection Forms)

For detailed information on course evaluation, please visit the Course Evaluation page.

Administrative Performance 

(compliance with ACC policies including Lighthouse, timely submission of required documents, response to emails from admin and/or students, use of Blackboard)

*Professional Growth

(Mandatory Training, faculty development, updating pedagogy ) 

*Professional Service (Mandatory for full-time faculty only)

(Participation in department, college-wide service, and external service)

*Note:  Beginning with the 2024-25 annual evaluations, the above categories of Professional Growth and Professional Service will be combined for adjunct faculty.  To earn an exemplary rating, adjunct faculty may meet standards from either or both categories.  Please see the CLS Rubric for more details.  

      All faculty receive a written Evaluation Summary containing comments from 2 - 3 people (peers, evaluation committee and/or the department chair).  

The evaluation culminates in an overall rating of:

• ACC Exemplary Teaching and Faculty Expectations Have Been Met 

• Approaching ACC Exemplary Teaching and Faculty Expectations 

• Does not Meet ACC Faculty Expectations

For more information about the ratings, please see the college’s explanati: https://instruction.austincc.edu/accfacultyevalmanual/faculty-evaluation-ratings/

Evaluation Summaries are signed by the chair, then the dean, then sent to the instructor, typically by the end of Fall semester.  Instructors sign and return the Evaluation Summary form, a copy of which is retained by the administration. Instructors have the right to request a meeting with the department chair to discuss the evaluation received.

     If you have any questions regarding the faculty evaluation process and procedures, please email efrye@austincc.edu

        ** For additional information on the Faculty Evaluation process, please refer to Administrative Rule # 4.1201.02

COURSE Evaluations (Student Evaluations)

Faculty are evaluated every semester by students. Student evaluations result in a rating of one of the following: Excellent, Very Good, Good, & Needs Improvement.

* Please encourage your students to submit the course evaluations that are accessible via a link in the main menu of your Blackboard courses. 

Annual Evaluation Materials

The contents of the evaluation materials provide faculty with an opportunity to showcase their work and reflect on what they do and why.  When used correctly, these materials grant instructors the valuable right to self-expression and they provide the means by which evaluators “observe” the instructor. 

The following chart provides a brief overview of the materials required for each year of the ACC ANNUAL EVALUATION PROCESS:

WHAT DO I SUBMIT?

1. WHAT YEAR ARE YOU IN THE CYCLE?  LOOK AT THE CLS DUE LIST:  CLS DUE LIST  [“Due SP 25”]

2. ARE YOU IN THE FIRST (3) YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT AT ACC?

3. ARE YOU AN ADJUNCT OR FULL-TIME FACULTY MEMBER?

SEE THE ACC FACULTY EVALUATION WEBSITE FOR REFERENCE: 

ACC FAC EVAL Manual

Annual Evaluation Materials (3 year cycle)

New hires and instructors with status changes (adjunct to full-time and vice versa) must begin with the 1st year materials. The following year they submit the 2nd year materials. Then, they join the rest of the faculty in a 3-year cycle.  During each of the first three years in their position, faculty must submit (3) samples that represent their teaching style and values.  These samples may be any of the following:  assignments, projects, assessments.  At least one should contain a research component.  These are the written assignments sheets (and rubrics, if applicable) that are given to/or posted for the students to use as a guide.  If you feel additional information or context is necessary for the evaluators' review, please provide that information on a separate document. 

Full-time and adjunct faculty submit materials according to the cycle.

New hires and instructors with status changes (adjunct to full-time and vice versa) must begin with the 1st year materials. The following year they submit the 2nd year materials. Then, they join the rest of the faculty in a 3-year cycle.  During each of the first three years in their position, faculty must submit (3) samples that represent their teaching style and values.  These samples may be any of the following:  assignments, projects, assessments.  At least one should contain a research component.  These are the written assignments sheets (and rubrics, if applicable) that are given to/or posted for the students to use as a guide.  If you feel additional information or context is necessary for the evaluators' review, please provide that information on a separate document. 

Full-time and adjunct faculty submit materials according to the cycle.

 Supplemental Materials  

Supplemental materials are due the final Friday of May of the applicable academic year. If faculty teach in multiple disciplines (ex. Creative Writing), other materials may be required for each discipline. Failure to submit the supplemental materials will result in lowered evaluation ratings.  

*See Annual Evaluation Materials chart above for the materials required for each year of the evaluation cycle.

Syllabi and Faculty Reflection Forms are submitted by the faculty to the Annual Collection Form each semester and placed in instructors' folders.  Please be mindful of the deadlines for these submissions, and SAVE YOUR email RECEIPTS! 

Syllabi must contain:

• The instructor’s course description (such as themes and content unique to the instructor’s teaching of the course) Course objectives or outcomes, (instructors' own stated objectives/outcomes are encouraged rather than a simple copy-paste of what the department provides)

• The grading and late work policies, attendance policy, the Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism policy, and the A.I. policy (including the consequences the instructor imposed for violating the policy)

• The course schedule (at minimum an outline of units, readings, due dates for major assignments/tests--subject to change).  The course schedule must be submitted for review.  If students receive a link to the schedule online, copy-paste the schedule onto the syllabus and upload the combined single document to the collection form.

• Additional items from the appropriate CLS departmental syllabus may be required in each instructor’s course syllabus. 

• The CLS syllabus checklist is a guide to the items included in the syllabus.  Please consult this:  CLS Checklist for Section Syllabus.pdf

• Also see the section on syllabi in the CLS Faculty Handbook.  

VIDEO AND SLIDES FROM SYLLABI BROWN BAG (SPRING 2025)

https://austincc.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=12bdb222-7cae-4733-bf87-b2c6002e9697

Slides (PDF):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PxFu0ZBGnfqaCp20isEpBUgQZ5QWleds/view?usp=sharing

 Annual Evaluation Cycle Spreadsheet

Faculty Evaluation Status, Year, & Materials Due

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IBqdQdRA8tV-tw7itfGO1jvybto3GV_aGUHMdNIBpO0/edit?usp=sharing 

• The above links to a spreadsheet where you can find your status in the evaluation process (annual review or portfolio due).

• The default view is the adjunct list; full-time faculty, please click on the "FT" tab in the bottom left corner to see your list.

If you do not see your name on the list or question your status, please contact Sue Bloodsworth sbloodsw@austincc.edu and Beth Frye efrye@austincc.edu. 

Peer Dialogue

The new ACC Faculty Evaluation Process includes a new component: Peer Dialogue.

The Peer Dialogue is required by full-time faculty (ONLY) in YEAR 1 of the annual evaluation process.  These peer activities are actually self-serving and mutually beneficial to peers as ACC’s intends: “It might be as simple as mutual class observations among several faculty members along with a discussion of those observations afterward, or a faculty study group, interest group, or learning community, or one of several other departments approved options. The point here is to engage with your peers to discuss teaching and support each other.  This can be between two or more faculty members, either from the same department or cross-discipline.” 

Please review the items in the Peer Dialogue folder for suggested activities.

Peer dialogue activities should be completed within the academic year that is under annual and portfolio review. For example, activities that occur during the period of Fall 2023 - Summer 2024 will be reported on the Peer Dialogue Form and submitted during that academic year. Although ACC requires multiple meetings for this dialogue, instructors will submit only one report per academic year.   Use the SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS COLLECTION FORM to submit the Peer Dialogue.  See the link on the front page of the Faculty Evaluation handbook page or in the Tuesday newsletter.  If you engage in multiple peer dialog activities, such as mentorships and interests and study groups, choose just one of these for your Peer Dialogue report.

Peer Dialogue Folder: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bACLPBdmkQL830BUC02jWGKZ4lFWPD-2?usp=sharing.

Requirements & Options (KISS)

CLS KISS (Keep It Simple Sweetheart!) Requirements & Options
This chart presents all the requirements and options for Assessment, Evaluation, Professional Development, etc. It indicates what Adjuncts and Full-timers must do, when to do it, & compensation. View & download the CLS KISS document here.