ie., teachers which were more highly evaluated on 101 classes worsened the performance on 201s of their students. I work in education and this has been my long

ie., teachers which were more highly evaluated on 101 classes worsened the performance on 201s of their students. I work in education and this has been my long held belief; it is interesting to see good evidence for this effect. Student evals measure their happiness; it is trivial to increase them by limiting their frustration (ie., the difficulty & depth of content). The goal of education isn't short-term comfort, it is long-term competence. For example, in my profession, I typically only have a few days with a group to rapidly onboard them in complex areas. It was my approach to end my session by considering all the issues the learners did not understand; and to review them again. However, this causes them to be aware of the limitations of the learning, and to frustrate them again with whatever was too complex. And thereby evaluate me lower. Now I am forced into a 'review' which convinces them they have learnt something (true), only because that feeling of accomplishment is better for the eval. It isnt better for them.