Abstract

Background and Aims: Identifying factors that affect the students' evaluation of teachers' performance, allows for proper planning and provides for earning real results of the faculty performance. This study was undertaken aimed at determining the relationship between teachers' evaluation scores and the students' academic performance in Ilam University of Medical Sciences. Methods and Material: This descriptive-analytical study was undertaken throughout the school year of 2009-2010 in the Ilam University of Medical Sciences. All the faculty members (110 teachers) and all the medical and basic sciences students (1250 people) studying in this university during the mentioned time span were considered using the census method. Collection of the faculty evaluation data was carried out using a valid and reliable questionnaire including 14 questions, where as the data on academic performance of the students was gathered via the Educational Management System (Sama). Normalization of the variables was executed using the Kolmorogrove-Smirnove test and data analysis was performed based on Pearson correlation coefficient test and linear regression. Findings: The teachers' performance evaluation mean score during the first and second semester was 4.28 and 4.17 respectively, and the students' grade point average during the first and second semester was 15.11 and 15.48 respectively. The Pearson con-elation coefficient showed that there is a negative relationship between the number of units (number of credit hours per each course) a professor should teach and the mean score of the class performance, which was statistically significant (r=0.28, P=0.031). Also, the linear regression equation showed that by increasing the number of the units each professor should teach only by one unit, the mean score of the grade point average (GPA) of the class will decrease by 22. However, there were no significant relationship between the class performance mean (the class average GPA) scores and teachers' evaluations scores mean (p=0.94). Conclusion: Considering the insignificance of the relationship between the classroom performance (mean GPA score) and the teachers' evaluation mean score -having been confirmed by similar studies- this variable should not be considered as a biased factor in evaluation of the professors, given the fact that No significant relationship was observed between the class average exam marks and the classroom evaluation mean scores (P=0.54, r=0.057). The findings of the current study have shed some light on the subject matter by providing insights from a non-western background and would help to fill up the lack of studies in this context.