With appropriate preparation and guidance, TAs can be among a department's most valuable assets. The following guidelines have been agreed upon by the University of Minnesota's TA Liaison Council as actions which will help TAs perform their jobs effectively.

Clarify hiring policies and procedures for both your graduate students and your faculty. Graduate students are often unclear about what they need to do in order to obtain a TA position. The department can reduce confusion by clearly indicating (in writing) what positions are available, the responsibilities entailed, and the criteria used in the selection process. If possible, it is also very helpful if TAs can see the range of TA positions in the department as well as a possible progression in TA assignments they may hold, e.g. assisting a faculty member with such tasks as grading or equipment set-up; leading a lab, recitation, or discussion section; having sole responsibility for a class.

Share the departmental guidelines for TA workloads with both TAs and faculty. Assure workload equity for same-percentage appointments. If you have not already done so, you may wish to survey the TAs in your department anonymously to learn how much time they devote to their various TA duties. An imbalance in the amount of time required by TA duties within the department or excessive workloads which prevent graduate students from making progress towards their degree are common TA complaints.

Assure that each TA has a faculty or departmental contact. Even if a TA is teaching a class autonomously, there should be a faculty or staff member to whom the TA can go for advice and guidance.

Clarify the responsibilities of the faculty member who will be supervising one or mnore TAs. Direct faculty to Teaching with TAs: Guidelines for Instructors on our Resources page. Let them know that the department expects them to follow the guidelines for teaching with TAs.

Encourage mentoring. Let faculty know that you value their mentoring of TAs. One way to let faculty know that mentoring TAs is considered valuable is to take their work with TAs into account in performance reviews. This would entail evaluating their work with TAs. One method for doing this is to obtain evaluation information from the TAs with whom they work. See sample questions in the TA Evaluation of Their Supervision Experience located on our Resources page. Informal recognition of the role they are taking in mentoring future colleagues whether in a letter, email, or conversation can also encourage mentoring.

Provide appropriate preparation for TAs. This preparation can be a combination of the workshops and services provided by the Center for Teaching and Learning Services and offerings at the departmental level. For help assessing the TA training provided in your department, see the article "Enhancing GTA Training in Academic Departments: Some Self-Assessment Guidelines" by James Eison and Marsha Vanderford on our Resources page.

Determine a system for evaluating TAs. It is important that departments have a system for evaluating TAs. Reasons include our obligation to provide high quality undergraduate education, the need for fair and equitable hiring practices, and our commitment to aid in the development of the university's graduate students.

There are two basic types of evaluation: formative (evaluation for the purpose of improving performance) and summative (evaluation for the purpose of decision-making, e.g., whether or not to rehire). A departmental evaluation system should include both formative and summative evaluation.

Formative evaluation is crucial to a TA's effectiveness in his/her current duties and is also especially appropriate given the TA's position as a colleague-in-training. For TAs who are in the classroom, possible sources of formative evaluation information include conducting classroom observations, collecting early term student feedback, and talking about their final student evaluation results. (All of these resources can be accessed from our Resources page.) TAs should also receive informal, formative feedback from their faculty supervisor on a regular basis on all aspects of their job.

Devising a system for summative evaluation is an important and difficult task. To be valid, it should include multiple sources of information. Faculty supervisors should provide evaluative information about the TA. See a sample form for TA Evaluation by their Supervisor on our Resources page.

For TAs who are in the classroom, student evaluations of teaching provide another source of evaluative information. See the article on interpreting student evaluations of teacing on our Resources page. Other potential sources of information include classroom observation, a videotaped class, peer or supervisor evaluation of class materials designed by TAs such as syllabi, class assignments, tests or quizzes, and descriptions of classroom activities or samples of student work produced in the class. TAs who are primarily grading can submit samples of graded student work.

Ideally, each of these sources of information should be accompanied by a short reflection written by the TA which helps set the context for these information sources, e.g., along with a syllabus, TAs could submit a page discussing why they organized the class in this way, why they choose the this system of student evaluation, etc. Asking TAs to submit portfolios of their work will not only result in a more valid system of evaluation but will prove very valuable to the TA when he or she enters the job market. Read more in the article on Documenting Teaching: Creating a Portfolio on our Resources page.

A summative evaluation system can also allow for some choices on the part of the TA. For example, a summative evaluation system could require TAs to submit student evaluations from 1 semester along with a reflective piece which helps put the evaluations in a context, and then select 2 of an additional 4 or 5 possible items for submission.

Additional caveats on evaluation

• TAs should know how they will be evaluated at the beginning of their appointment. They should also be told what procedure will be followed if they fail to meet minimum levels of acceptability.
• All evaluative information gathered about individuals should be confidential.

A consultant from the Center for Teaching and Learning Services would be happy to assist you in establishing or revising a system for evaluating your TAs and talk with you about interpreting and using student evaluations.