Cabot House Kicks Off Tutor Survey

In a new pilot program Cabot House students will be able to comprehensively evaluate the quality of residential tutors through an anonymous on-line survey that began Friday.

The move, the first of its kind, comes from a joint effort by House masters to respond to criticisms about House life.

“For years, students have been urging masters to develop a tutor evaluation system parallel to Harvard’s course evaluation system,” Co-Master James C. Ware said.

The brief survey gives students a chance to evaluate both their residential and concentration tutors on House participation, advising and interaction with students.

Masters in Eliot, Lowell and Pforzheimer hope to begin their own versions of the survey later this semester. The Eliot survey will begin this Wednesday, according to an e-mail sent to House residents last night.

Cabot residents will have until next month to provide feedback on tutors’ interaction with students and the tutors’ involvement in house activities.

To encourage participation, those who respond to the survey will be entered into a lottery to win cash prizes of $100, $50 and $25.

The first round of survey results will only be available to House administrators to determine if the information will help improve House life.

Masters said the evaluations were not meant to undermine their confidence in the quality of tutors.

“The main objections is that the position of tutor is a very particular position that is not so easily measured,” Eliot House Master Lino Bertile said.

Pforzheimer House Co-Master Susan McCarthy said her house would proceed slowly.

“It’s a sensitive issue and it has to be done carefully,” McCarthy said.

Despite the caution, Cabot House residents welcomed the chance to evaluate their tutors and said the feedback will help tutors understand student needs.

“It will help tutors know more and what to expect from students,” Cabot resident Preston B. Golson ’02 said.

Students welcome the opportunity to clarify the role of tutors within the house system.

“I don’t even know who my concentration and resident tutors are,” said Cabot resident Andrew G. Bosworth ’04. “The House should explain who tutors are and what they do.”

For their part, tutors were concerned about being singled out for evaluation in a house system that has many different components—from room quality to dining halls.

“There should be a way to evaluate the whole house on a regular basis,” Cabot resident tutor Vivian L. Johnson said. “Tutors are just one part of student life.”