Faculty evaluation: a closer look at peer evaluation.

As long as there have been academic institutions, administrators, faculty, and students, there have been evaluations. Evaluation involves placing a value or making a judgement about some aspect(s) of performance. Evaluation in nursing education has been studied extensively with respect to nursing students' academic and clinical performance. However, it is only in the last 2 decades that the issue of faculty evaluation has gained increased attention. Trends in nursing education with respect to the development of the overall concept and sources of input for evaluation of the nurse educator are discussed in this paper. Specific attention is focused on the process of peer evaluation and a tool to facilitate the peer evaluation process is included.