Some colleges will do anything to improve their national ranking. That can be bad for their students-and for higher education. Since U.S. News & World Report first published a college ranking in 1983, the rankings industry has become a self-appointed judge, declaring winners and losers among Americas colleges and universities. In this revealing account, Colin Diver shows how popular rankings have induced college applicants to focus solely on pedigree and prestige, while tempting educators to sacrifice academic integrity for short-term competitive advantage. By forcing colleges into standardized "best-college" hierarchies, he argues, rankings have threatened the institutional diversity, intellectual rigor, and social mobility that is the genius of American higher education. As a former university administrator who refused to play the game, Diver leads his readers on an engaging journey through the mysteries of college rankings, admissions, financial aid, spending policies, and academic practices. He explains how most dominant college rankings perpetuate views of higher education as a purely consumer good susceptible to unidimensional measures of brand value and prestige. Many rankings, he asserts, also undermine the moral authority of higher education by encouraging various forms of distorted behavior, misrepresentation, and outright cheating by ranked institutions. The recent Varsity Blues admissions scandal, for example, happened in part because affluent parents wanted to get their children into elite schools by any means necessary. Explaining what is most useful and important in evaluating colleges, Diver offers both college applicants and educators a guide to pursuing their highest academic goals, freed from the siren song of the "best-college" illusion. Ultimately, he reveals how to break ranks with a rankings industry that misleads its consumers, undermines academic values, and perpetuates social inequality.
Colin Diver was formerly the president of Reed College, a trustee of Amherst College, and the dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he is currently the Charles A. Heimbold Jr. Professor of Law and Economics Emeritus.
Preface Prologue Part I. The College Ranking Industry: From Curiosity, to Scorekeeper, to Rankocracy Chapter 1. Apples, Oranges, and Refrigerators: Should Colleges Be Ranked? Chapter 2. Meet the Ranking Industrys 800-Pound Gorilla-and Its Cousins Chapter 3. Making "Best-College Stew": A Recipe for Disaster? Chapter 4. Who Cares about Rankings? Applicants Do! Chapter 5. Resist or Embrace: Educators Responses to Rankings Chapter 6. Garbage In? The Misreporting of Rankings Data Part II. The Prestige Treadmill: Reputation, Wealth, and Rankings Chapter 7. Conferring Pedigree: The Educational Aristocracy Chapter 8. Measuring Prestige by Popularity Poll: The Opinions of "Experts" Chapter 9. The Wealth of Institutions: What Is a College Worth? Chapter 10. The Spending Rat Race: Maximizing Per-Student Subsidy Part III. The Gatekeepers: Judging Colleges by Who Gets In and Who Doesnt Chapter 11. The Best and the Brightest: Student Selectivity and College Rankings Chapter 12. SAT: The Elephant in the Admissions Office, and in the Rankings Chapter 13. Chasing High SAT Scores: The Games Colleges Play Chapter 14. Intercollegiate Admissions Competition: Winners and Losers Chapter 15. Affirmative Inaction: Race, Ethnicity, and Rankings Part IV. Higher Goals for Higher Education: Outcomes, Value Added, and the Public Good Chapter 16. Inside the Black Box: Can Learning Gains Be Measured? Chapter 17. Proxies for Learning Outcomes: Instructional Content and Quality Chapter 18. Crossing the Finish Line: Ranking Schools by Graduation Rates Chapter 19. Making a Living: The Winding Road from College to Career Chapter 20. Social Immobility: College Rankings and the American Dream Chapter 21. Making a Life: The Art of Being Human Conclusion. Breaking the Rankocracys Grip Appendix. Eight Schools, a Thousand Flowers . . . Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
Some colleges will do anything to improve their national ranking. That can be bad for their students-and for higher education.
