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Setting Stage

The misrepresentation by way of data comes as no surprise in this story about the ranking of US colleges. With such a tremendous financial incentive to getting a higher ranking, the stage is set for all manner of maleficence - nothing less should be expected. Would be great to have outcomes ranking for colleges instead of what there is today - how prepared are the students for the real world - both personal and professional, how strong and supportive is the alumni network, how happy are the students with the overall experience, would they look back at their time in college and say it was the best years of their lives. 

Those seem to be better measures for a kid coming out of high school in helping them decide if a particular college is a best fit for them. A persona analysis of the kind of student who is most likely to enjoy and benefit from a specific college is no less important. I know a fair number of young people who are either in college or graduated in the last few years who have felt disappointed that their expectations were not quite met even though there is much to like about the college - its as if a better match-making between the student and college was needed and did not happen. Rankings are most certainly not the way to do it.

the rankings train has long left the station and the genie isn’t going back in the bottle. Still, I think we would be better off pushing off the rankings wagon and forcing institution on to the competency wagon. Using real data from degree programs and student progress to detail how well the institution meets certain competencies. No, it isn’t easy work and would require some level of standardization. 

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