Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Contemporary Educational Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cedpsych A tale of two quests: The (almost) non-overlapping research literatures on students' evaluations of secondary-school and university teachers Herbert W. Marsh a, ⁎ , Theresa Dicke b , Mathew Pfeiffer b a Australian Catholic University and Oxford University, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (IPPE), Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, NSW 2135, Australia b Australian Catholic University, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (IPPE), Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, NSW 2135, Australia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Students' evaluations of teaching Teaching effectiveness Educational measurement Exploratory structural equation modeling ABSTRACT Many 1000s of studies have been conducted on the validity and diagnostic usefulness of students' evaluations of university teaching (SET), but there is a surprising lack of research on ratings by secondary students. Integrating these two disparate research areas, we evaluate the appropriateness of university SET instruments to secondary settings. Secondary students evaluated an effective and less effective teacher using items adapted from two university instruments, supplemented by items for secondary settings, and rated the appropriateness and im- portance of each item (N = 761 sets of ratings of more than 400 teachers, Years 7–11, 10 schools). All items were seen as appropriate and important. Factor analyses of responses to both instruments supported their a priori factor structure, and multitrait-multimethod analyses supported their convergent and discriminant validity. We discuss directions for further research at the secondary level based on the extensive body of research on the reliability, validity, and usefulness of SETs at the university level. 1. Introduction “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." William Arthur Ward Most people remember their teachers. Nearly everybody is able to tell you a funny story about a really bad teacher and their quirks, but also about an inspiring teacher who has helped shape their life (a “great” teacher according with William Arthur Ward). And indeed, research shows that teachers matter and are crucial for the learning process (Hattie, 2002; OECD, 2005; Stecher & Holtzman, 2018). But what is a great teacher? What defines a great teacher? And how could we measure if somebody is a great teacher? How can we provide feedback and assistance to make teachers more effective? By addressing these questions, our research will inform processes to improve the ef- fectiveness of secondary school teachers and their schools to serve the community, build human capital, and also enrich and advance the in- ternational research agenda in relation to the theory, research and practice in teacher education and educational psychology. Indeed, particularly at the state and national level in the U.S., but also in countries all over the world, there is increased emphasis on the evaluation of effectiveness of secondary schools, teachers, and classes (Stecher & Holtzman, 2018). As part of this shift there is renewed in- terest, but only a limited amount of research into, the use of students' evaluations of teaching at the secondary level (S-SETs). Furthermore, even this limited amount of research into S-SETs has not resulted in psychometrically strong, robust instruments with well-differentiated factor structures (e.g. Kuhfeld, 2017; Schweig, 2014; Wallace, Kelcey, & Ruzek, 2016). Thus, Kuhfeld (2017; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2012) reported that in the US student perceptions of teaching are cur- rently mandated in seven states while 26 other states allow their use in teacher evaluations. In contrast to secondary school settings, students' evaluations of teaching in universities (U-SETs) are widely used to evaluate teaching effectiveness and to provide diagnostic feedback to improve teaching across the world. U-SETs have been the basis of literally 1000s of published articles into the dimensionality, reliability, validity, and usefulness for diverse purposes. In their review of U-SET research Marsh (1986) noted that the primary use of U-SETs is to provide diagnostic feedback to faculty for improving teaching, but also a measure of teaching effectiveness for personnel decisions; one component in na- tional and international quality assurance exercises, designed to monitor the quality of teaching and learning; an outcome or a process description for research on teaching, and, perhaps, information for students for the selection of courses and instructors. Particularly the https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.01.011 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: Herb.Marsh@acu.edu.au (H.W. Marsh), Theresa.Dicke@acu.edu.au (T. Dicke), mathew.pfeiffer2@myacu.edu.au (M. Pfeiffer). Contemporary Educational Psychology 58 (2019) 1–18 Available online 25 January 2019 0361-476X/ © 2019 Published by Elsevier Inc. T