Kids checking teacher ratings

…in growing numbers, apparently. I’ve mentioned the popular RateMyTeachers.com before. There’s also RateMyProfessors.com, drawing “roughly 1 million visitors a month” who scan listings for more than 400,000 professors at 4,000 schools and post their own opinions,” the Sacramento Bee reports. The paper evaluations which get handed out at the end of a course and which the Bee says get about a 90% return rate are probably more representative than the online versions, where students are more likely to go if they have a beef. Faculty members generally dislike sites like RateMyProfessors and SacRate.com (the former’s founder told the Bee he frequently gets lawsuit threats from professors maligned in the rating site), but the ones who don’t mind them so much say even the detractors probably secretly check their ratings. Rating sites are increasingly popular even among adults. The Bee cites a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project finding that 26% adult Net users – about 33 million Americans, have rated a product, service or person in a Web site. The biggest raters are 18-to 27-year-olds.”