Reference check questions for adjunct faculty

Adjunct hiring runs on the academic calendar. A section opens when enrollment grows or a colleague takes leave, and the chair has weeks, sometimes days, to find someone qualified to teach it. Under that pressure references are easy to drop, yet they answer what a CV and a teaching statement cannot: whether the candidate had a syllabus ready, met every class, returned work promptly and posted grades on time.

The best reference is usually the person who scheduled the candidate, because they decided whether to offer more sections. Ask for that person by role, keep the questions short enough for one phone call, and check references when an instructor joins your adjunct pool rather than the week a course needs a name. For full-time positions, the longer set in faculty reference check questions fits better.

Who to ask

• The chair or program coordinator who assigned their sections, who knows how the courses ran and whether the candidate was asked back.
• A colleague or course coordinator who saw their teaching or grading, for example in a multi-section course with a shared exam or rubric.
• An online program administrator or instructional designer, for online sections, who saw how the course site ran and how quickly students heard back.
• For a professional teaching in their field, a supervisor from that work, such as a hospital, firm or school, for expertise and reliability outside the classroom.

Questions to ask, by competency

Choose the competencies that matter most for the position and two or three questions from each. Ask every reference the same set, and when an answer is a rating, ask for the example behind it.

Readiness on short notice

Adjuncts are often handed a section weeks or days before classes begin. What matters is whether students had a workable syllabus and course site on the first day.

1. When the candidate was assigned a section close to the start of a term, how ready were the syllabus and course site when the first class met?
2. How did the candidate work within a common syllabus, a required textbook or shared assessments set by the department?
3. What did the candidate ask the department for before the term began, and what did they work out for themselves?

Reliability through the term

When a part-time instructor misses a class or a grade deadline, the chair and the students absorb it, often with nobody available to cover.

1. Tell me about a class session the candidate had to cancel. How did they let students and the department know, and what work replaced the session?
2. Were the candidate’s final grades and any attendance or progress reports in by the deadline, and did any need correcting afterwards?
3. Compared with other part-time instructors you have scheduled, how would you rate the candidate’s reliability from the first week of the term to final grades? (rating)

Teaching the students in the room

Adjuncts often teach introductory, evening, online or dual enrollment sections, where students arrive with very different preparation and schedules.

1. If you observed one of the candidate’s classes, what were the students doing, and what would you have suggested the candidate change?
2. How did the candidate respond when much of a section did poorly on an early exam or assignment?
3. What did the candidate do when a student stopped attending or submitting work partway through the term?

Grading disputes and academic integrity

Part-time instructors face the same plagiarism cases, grade appeals and accommodation letters as full-time faculty, usually with less time on campus to learn the policies.

1. Tell me about an academic integrity case in the candidate’s course. How did they gather the evidence, talk with the student and follow the reporting process?
2. When a student challenged a final grade, how did the candidate explain it and work with the chair?
3. How did the candidate put a student’s accommodation letter into practice, such as extended time on exams in an online course?

Close the reference

End every reference the same way: ask whether they would hire or work with the candidate again and why, what support would help the candidate do their best work, and whether there is anything else you should know. The general question bank explains why the first of these matters most.

Checks a reference does not replace

• Credentials for each course you may assign. Compare official transcripts with your institution’s faculty qualification requirements for every course on the list, not only the first one, and keep the comparison in the faculty file.
• Teaching history. Confirm institutions, terms and titles with each institution’s HR or faculty affairs office. Adjuncts often teach on more than one campus in the same term, and each reference may know only one of them.
• Any license or clearance the course depends on, such as a nursing license for clinical instruction, or a background check your institution requires for sections with high school students.

Warning signs to follow up

• A chair or coordinator who scheduled the candidate for several terms, then stopped, and will not say why.
• Final grades posted late more than once, or grade changes after the deadline that nobody can explain.
• Praise for the candidate’s professional expertise from references who never saw them teach.
• Courses, terms or campuses on the CV that no reference can place.

One warning sign is a reason to ask another question, not a verdict. Reference check red flags covers how to check a concern fairly.

Questions to leave out

Ask only about the work. Before an offer, the EEOC’s guidance says an employer may not ask a third party, such as a former employer, any question it could not ask the candidate directly. Leave out health, medical leave, age, family plans and other protected characteristics. What to leave out has the full list.