Terms of Use

Last updated: February 5, 2026.

Agreement to the Terms

By accessing or using RateMyTeachers.org, you agree to these Terms of Use ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the site. These Terms apply to all visitors, readers, and contributors, including students, parents, educators, and administrators. They are intended to keep the platform safe, fair, and useful for everyone.

These Terms incorporate and rely on our Guidelines and Privacy Statement. The Guidelines explain how to write respectful and fair reviews. The Privacy Statement explains what data we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. When you use RateMyTeachers.org, you agree to follow all three documents as a single set of rules.

Purpose of the Site

RateMyTeachers.org is a public resource for sharing classroom experiences. It helps students make informed choices, supports families, and provides educators with feedback about their teaching. The site is not a disciplinary system or a formal evaluation tool. Reviews reflect individual experiences and are subjective by nature. We do not verify every statement, and we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any review.

Eligibility and Use

You may use the site only for lawful purposes and in compliance with these Terms. You must be able to form a binding agreement under applicable law. If you are under the age required to consent in your jurisdiction, you should use the site only with permission from a parent or guardian.

RateMyTeachers.org is intended for general audiences, including students. We do not ask for student names or accounts. You can browse without submitting any information. If you choose to submit a review or teacher entry, you are responsible for the content you provide.

No Accounts and Minimal Identification

We operate the site without user accounts to reduce the amount of personal information collected. As a result, we cannot authenticate or verify individual reviewers beyond basic technical safeguards. This means you should be especially careful about what you share, because you may not be able to edit a review later without contacting us. If you submit a review, you understand that the submission is tied to the content itself and not to an ongoing user profile.

We may maintain internal logs, including IP addresses, for security and abuse prevention. These logs are not used for advertising or tracking across other sites. We keep them only as long as reasonably necessary to operate and protect the site.

Your Content and Responsibilities

When you submit a review or teacher entry, you represent that it is truthful, based on your own experience, and shared in good faith. You are responsible for ensuring that your content is accurate to the best of your knowledge and that it does not violate any laws, school policies, or professional obligations you may have.

You agree to follow our Guidelines. In practice, this means your content must be respectful, focused on classroom experience, and free of personal attacks, harassment, or discriminatory language. You should avoid posting sensitive personal information about yourself, teachers, students, or staff.

Reviews should focus on teaching practices, course structure, grading clarity, communication, and overall learning experience. Do not post content that is irrelevant to the classroom, such as personal disputes, non-educational rumors, or unrelated grievances.

Prohibited Content

To protect safety and fairness, you must not post or submit any content that:

• Includes profanity, insults, or derogatory remarks aimed at any person or group.
• Contains hate speech or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristics.
• Reveals private or identifying information, such as home addresses, phone numbers, personal email addresses, or student records.
• Threatens, harasses, or encourages harassment of teachers, students, or staff.
• Includes false allegations of criminal conduct or professional misconduct.
• Is spam, promotional material, or unrelated to teaching and learning.
• Attempts to manipulate ratings or flood the site with repetitive submissions.

We may remove content that violates these rules, and repeated violations may result in restrictions on your access to the site.

Ratings Integrity and Fair Use

The value of RateMyTeachers.org depends on honest participation. You agree not to submit reviews on behalf of others, not to create multiple reviews for the same teacher to amplify a viewpoint, and not to coordinate campaigns to manipulate ratings. Reviews should reflect personal experience in a specific class, not generalized opinions or secondhand rumors. If we detect patterns that suggest manipulation or abuse, we may remove those reviews and restrict access.

Public Nature of Submissions

Reviews and ratings are public by design. When you submit content, it may be viewed by anyone who visits the site, and it may be indexed by search engines. Your review may include the course name you select, the grade you choose to share, your rating scores, and your written comment. Please do not include personal or sensitive information in any submission.

Even if we remove a review, copies may remain temporarily in backups or in cached or indexed versions controlled by third parties. This is one reason we strongly encourage you to avoid sharing identifying details in the first place.

Privacy and Data Handling

Our Privacy Statement explains how we handle information. In summary, we collect the content you submit (ratings, course names, grades, written reviews) so the directory can function. We do not require accounts or request student names. We may store IP addresses and basic technical logs for security, abuse prevention, and moderation. We do not sell personal information or use advertising trackers on the site.

We may use essential cookies or local storage only for functional or administrative purposes. The site loads fonts from Google Fonts, which may receive technical data like IP address and browser details. For more detail, please read the Privacy Statement.

Third-Party Services and Links

The site may contain links to third-party resources, such as school websites or external documentation. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. Your use of third-party services is subject to their own terms and policies.

Content Ownership and License

You retain ownership of the content you submit. However, by submitting content to RateMyTeachers.org, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, and create derivative works of your content as necessary to operate, improve, and promote the site. This license includes the right to display your review on teacher profiles, show aggregated statistics, and use excerpts for moderation or quality improvement.

You represent that you have the right to grant this license and that your content does not infringe the rights of any third party. We do not claim ownership of your content, but we do require this license so the site can function.

Our Intellectual Property

RateMyTeachers.org, its design, layout, and underlying code are protected by intellectual property laws. Except for user-submitted content, all site content is owned by RateMyTeachers.org or licensed to us. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from the site content without our written permission, except as permitted by law.

Moderation and Enforcement

We reserve the right to review, edit, or remove any content that violates these Terms, our Guidelines, or applicable law. We may use automated tools to flag content for review, such as profanity filters or spam detection, but final decisions may involve human review. We are not obligated to publish or keep any submission.

We may restrict or terminate access for users who repeatedly violate these Terms or attempt to harm the integrity of the site. We may also remove or edit teacher profiles or reviews to correct errors or comply with legal requirements.

Requests, Corrections, and Disputes

If you believe a review about you is inaccurate, violates our Guidelines, or includes personal information, you can request review and removal. We evaluate requests carefully and may ask for additional context to verify the request. While we strive to be fair, we are not required to remove content simply because it is negative, as long as it complies with our Guidelines.

If you are a reviewer and wish to correct or remove your own submission, contact us with sufficient details to identify the review. Because we do not maintain user accounts, we may ask for verification or additional information before acting on a request.

Accuracy and No Endorsement

Reviews reflect individual opinions and experiences. We do not verify each review or confirm the accuracy of each statement. We do not endorse any teacher or school, and the presence of a profile on the site does not imply any relationship with or approval by RateMyTeachers.org.

Use the information on the site as one input among many. Consider the overall pattern of feedback rather than relying on a single review.

Prohibited Conduct

In addition to prohibited content, you agree not to:

• Attempt to access or interfere with the site's systems, servers, or data in unauthorized ways.
• Scrape, crawl, or harvest data from the site without permission.
• Use automated scripts to submit reviews or manipulate ratings.
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your identity.
• Upload or transmit malware, harmful code, or malicious links.
• Use the site for any purpose that is unlawful or violates these Terms.

Feedback and Suggestions

If you send us feedback, ideas, or suggestions about the site, you agree that we may use them without restriction or obligation to you. This helps us improve RateMyTeachers.org without creating ownership disputes over general ideas or feature requests.

Safety and Reporting

If you believe a review violates our Guidelines or includes personal information, you can request removal. The site is not designed for reporting emergencies or serious misconduct. If you believe someone is in danger or there has been illegal activity, contact the appropriate authorities or school officials.

Changes to the Site

We may update or modify the site at any time. We may add, remove, or change features, content, and functionality. We may also update the questionnaire or rating categories. If we make material changes to these Terms, we will update the "Last updated" date and provide notice on the site.

Termination

We may suspend or terminate access to the site at any time if we believe you have violated these Terms or our Guidelines. You may stop using the site at any time. If your access is terminated, the license you granted to us for previously submitted content will continue as needed to operate the site and maintain the integrity of published reviews, unless the content is removed.

Disclaimers

RateMyTeachers.org is provided "as is" and "as available." We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the site or any content. We do not guarantee uninterrupted access or error-free operation. To the extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, RateMyTeachers.org and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the site. Our total liability for any claim related to the site will not exceed the amount you paid to use the site, which is currently zero.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless RateMyTeachers.org and its operators from any claims, liabilities, damages, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your use of the site, your content submissions, or your violation of these Terms.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which RateMyTeachers.org operates, without regard to conflict of law principles. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect.

Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Guidelines and Privacy Statement, constitute the entire agreement between you and RateMyTeachers.org regarding your use of the site. They supersede any prior understandings or agreements about the platform. If we fail to enforce any part of these Terms, that does not waive our right to enforce them later.

Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, or if you need to report a violation or request a removal, contact us at contact@ratemyteachers.org. We aim to respond promptly and respectfully.