Holistic Teaching Assessment Initiative

A Shared Framework for Teaching and Evaluation

To champion the high-quality learning experiences for which CMU is known, university leadership – in partnership with faculty and student governance – launched the Holistic Teaching Assessment Initiative. Through this multi-year endeavor, we aim to empower instructors to continuously elevate their teaching based on valid, useful data, provide academic leaders with a consistent and holistic evaluation framework, and ensure our teaching assessment practices advance student learning and well-being and faculty success.

Why This Matters

Across higher education, institutions are rethinking how teaching is assessed. At Carnegie Mellon, we’re advancing this work through a shared, university-wide framework by:

establishing a shared definition of effective teaching at CMU (to be posted here once finalized);
aligning teaching assessment tools and practices with that definition;
improving how teaching data is collected, interpreted and used;
supporting both formative improvement and summative evaluation processes; and
strengthening student learning outcomes.

Student Perception

Capturing student experience through tools such as Faculty Course Evaluations (FCE), early course feedback (ECF), surveys and alumni feedback.

Student Learning

Measuring learning outcomes through student work, exams, performance in subsequent courses and other assessment methods.

Peer Feedback

Collecting classroom observations, peer review of teaching materials and teaching consultations.

Self-Assessment

Capturing instructor reflection through portfolios, self-evaluation and annual review materials.

Initial Recommendations (2019): A University Education Council (UEC) working group issued 10 recommendations on using formative assessment to improve teaching, establishing the four-pillar foundation.
Deep Dive into Student Perception (2024): Provost- and UEC-led working groups examined how CMU collects student feedback and delivered recommendations to improve FCEs, early course feedback, and student input for the reappointment, promotion, and tenure (RPT) process.
Community-Driven Definition and Early Course Feedback (2025): Conducted focus groups to explore a draft definition of “effective teaching” and partnered with the Eberly Center to lower adoption barriers for early course feedback and deploy optimized formative assessment tools.

Community-Driven Definition: Gathering additional community input to ultimately incorporate all feedback into a revised definition of “effective teaching.”
Student Input in the RPT Process: Conducting a landscape scan of departmental practices for soliciting student letters.
FCE Redesign: Mobilizing a specialized working group to draft a modernized FCE instrument, including guidance for students, improved statistics for instructors and better evaluative context for academic leaders.

FCE Pilot: Testing the redesigned instrument with a representative subset of the CMU community.
Actionable Just-In-Time Resources and Playbooks: Releasing distinct guidance for students, evaluators and departments.

RPT Framework Alignment: Collaborating with academic administrators to build consistent data collection processes.
Full FCE Rollout: Launching the fully refined, modernized evaluation instrument based on pilot metrics and backend testing.

Integrating the Other Pillars: Designing sustainable pathways to formally integrate the remaining three pillars: Student Learning, Peer Assessment and Self-Evaluation.
Continuous Tool Improvement: Regularly evaluating data regarding tool use to continuously lower user barriers and increase adoption.
Permanent Stewardship: Transitioning the framework into a permanent university program, allowing for continuous cycles of review and refinement.

Shelley Anna
Vice Provost for Faculty

Kate Barraclough
Vice Provost for Education

Joel Greenhouse
Vice Chair of the University Education Council

Marsha Lovett
Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning Innovation

Steering Committee

Members are nominated by their respective governance groups and include representatives from university administration, faculty governance, teaching experts and student government.

Henry Aceves PhD Student, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences	Lexi Adams Director of Faculty and Postdoctoral Success and New Academic Initiatives, Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty	Lainie Beauchemin PhD Student, College of Engineering	Zach Berger Undergraduate Student, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Chair, Academic Affairs Committee, Student Senate
Elizabeth Dieterich PhD Student, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Vice President, Academic Affairs, Graduate Student Assembly	Chad Hershock Executive Director, Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation	Alexandra Ion Assistant Professor and Interim Associate Director of HCI Undergraduate Programs, Griffin School of Computer Science	Kristen Kurland University Professor of Architecture, Information Systems, and Public Policy, Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
Catherine Moore Teaching Professor, Drama, College of Fine Arts	Clive Newstead Associate Teaching Professor, Mathematical Sciences, Mellon College of Science	Ashley Pierre Undergraduate Student Senate Representative, Mellon College of Science	Gillian Ryan Director of Undergraduate Affairs, Department of Physics, Mellon College of Science
Vincent Sokalski Teaching Professor and Director of Student Inclusion & Community, Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering	Mike Trick Dean and Chief Academic Officer, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar	Christopher Warren Head, Department of English and Thomas Stockham Baker Professor of English Literature, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences	Adrian Zhuang Undergraduate Student Senate Representative, Griffin School of Computer Science

Holistic Teaching Assessment Initiative