By Johanna Fleischman

Ratemyteacher.com: a website that lets high school students rate and comment on any high school teacher, in any school, in any state, in any subject. Although high school students have little say over the teacher in whose class they will enroll, this website allows students to share their experience with any instructor.
According to the website, Casa Grande High School’s 3.7 out of 5 rating is an accumulation of 1410 ratings of 122 different teachers. Petaluma High School, in contrast, has a 3.5 rating composed of 1083 ratings of 79 teachers. While these ratings are often very subjective, they can provide valuable insight into a teacher’s class and instruction.
Why does this matter? In the Journal of School Health by Adena M. Klem and James P. Connell, they claim that the conditions which affect student success include “high standards for academic learning and conduct, meaningful and engaging pedagogy and curriculum, professional learning community among staff, and personalized learning environments.” All these factors are primarily determined by the teacher. In essence, the success of a student can be traced back to the environment created by the professor or teacher in the classroom.