RateMyTeachers

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RateMyTeachers.com
Web address RateMyTeachers.com
Type of site Review Site
Owner RMT Acquisition, LLC
Created by Michael Hussey
Launched 2001
Alexa rank negative increase 47,134 (February 2014)[1]

RateMyTeachers (RMT) is a review site used to rate elementary and secondary school teachers. Participants are asked to rate their teachers on a scale of 1 to 5 in the categories of easiness, helpfulness, and clarity, with the latter two factoring into an "overall quality" score.[2] Individuals can also write brief comments based on their experiences with the teachers. Over eleven million teachers were graded on the website as of April 2010, but RMT had no effective moderating system, and most of these teachers had moved on to other schools or retired, making these ratings useless.[3]

The site was launched in 2001 by Michael Hussey and later sold to former RateMyProfessors.com owner Patrick Nagle.[4] It currently operates websites in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

RateMyTeachers.com claims that over 70% of teachers are rated positively. [citation needed] However a quick look through the ratings of any school would reveal a plethora of teachers labelled as 'pedophiles', with numerous negative comments about teacher's physical appearance or supposed extra-curricular activities. In the US, many teachers were removed from their positions based solely on comments made by disgruntled students.

Between 2010 and 2012, one teacher spent countless hours rating teachers in schools in Sydney, Australia. Beginning with North Sydney Boys and North Sydney Girls High schools, then spreading to almost every school in Sydney, he 'neutralised' all teacher ratings to an average of 3.0 out of 5, filled school pages with thousands of fictional teachers, and deleted all negative comments about teachers while posting nonsense comments to take their place. RMT continually changed the layout of their site in order to contend with this activity, but this led to a site which was too unwieldy for students to use. The changes RMT made to their website did not only affect Sydney, but schools throughout Australia, the USA, and other countries serviced by this site. As a result, since late 2012 Rate My Teachers has been a virtual ghost site, with only a trickle of activity. RMT abandoned its Facebook page in 2013, and appears to have abandoned the RMT site itself.

Controversy

RateMyTeachers.com is controversial in certain circles and many have questioned its approach. In 2007, the Queensland College of Teachers called for the shutdown of the page "until it can be established that it provides a credible service" (http://www.qct.edu.au/Publications/Periodical/CollegeConnectionApril2007.PDF p5). In 2003, the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) sought a court injunction to shut down the site, though the request was denied on free speech grounds. In April 2007 the British education secretary Alan Johnson said that the online harassment of teachers performed by sites such as RateMyTeachers.com needs to stop. This caused a number of articles on RateMyTeachers by national and international press.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Ratemyteachers.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-02-02. 
  2. ↑ http://www.ratemyteachers.com/faq
  3. ↑ http://uk.ratemyteachers.com/faq.php?type=main[]
  4. ↑ Business Journal
  5. ↑ "Ban cyber-bullying clips, Johnson to urge websites". The Guardian. 10 April 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2010. 

External links

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