Breaking the Grip of the College Rankings Game

Colin Diver, author of Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do About It, visits the podcast to talk about how U.S. News & World Report and other rankings force colleges into standardized hierarchies and threaten the institutional diversity and social mobility that is the hallmark of American higher education. The hosts open the episode with a brief conversation on how the overturning of Roe v. Wade might impact higher ed and the new proposed rules for Title IX announced by the Biden administration last week. Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show: Introduction Supreme Court Ruling Will Upend Reproductive Rights for College Students and Complicate Medical Training The Chronicle of Higher Education (sub. req.) | June 24, 2022 New Rules on Title IX Inside Higher Ed | June 23, 2022 Fifty Years On, Title IX’s Legacy Includes Its Durability The New York Times (sub. req.) | June 23, 2022 Conversation with Colin Diver Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do About It by Colin Diver Taking on ‘U.S. News’? Inside Higher Ed | June 6, 2022 The Economist Who Would Fix the American Dream The Atlantic (sub. req.) | July 17, 2019 Injecting Equity Into the Carnegie Classifications Inside Higher Ed | March 28, 2022 College Scorecard Department of Education Washington Monthly’s 2021 College Guide and Rankings Raj Chetty in 14 Charts: Big Findings on Opportunity and Mobility We Should All Know Brookings | Jan. 11, 2018 How Can We Amplify Education as an Engine of Mobility? Opportunity Insights