Assessing Faculty Performance for Merit: An Academic Accomplishment Index

Jonathan Adams

This paper outlines a quantitative procedure developed for assessing the scholarly, teaching, and service accomplishments of faculty members being reviewed for promotion and tenure. This Academic Assessment Index (AAI) is based on the responses of 109 university and college administrators (chairpersons, department heads, and deans) in a national survey. Based on the Law of Comparative Judgment, the AAI was developed from a statistical analysis of these responses. The results may provide an important perspective on the difficult issue of how faculty career advancement portfolios including teaching, scholarly works, and service activities are judged by senior colleagues and administrators.