Abstract: It is American universities that first explored and practiced an evaluation system of teacher performance， which has experienced a refining process from establishment to standardization. The system possesses such features as varied and flexible evaluation criteria and methods， standardized evaluation procedures， as well as far-sighted evaluation outcomes and objectives， which make it objective， just and suitable for long-term development. Considering that there exist such problems as one-sidedness of evaluation indicators， unidirectionality of evaluation process and simplicity of evaluation objectives in teacher performance evaluation of Chinas higher education， the successful American experience of teacher performance evaluation could be drawn on to improve the system of evaluation indicators， standardize the evaluation procedures and optimize the assessment functions of teacher performance evaluation system in Chinese universities.

Key words: American university, teacher performance, evaluation system