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