http://hallmonitor.lohudblogs.com/2007/11/17/college-rankings-2/ Keeping an eye on education Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:55:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.5 http://hallmonitor.lohudblogs.com/2007/11/17/college-rankings-2/#comment-19193 Jack Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:16:57 +0000 http://hallmonitor.lohudblogs.com/2007/11/17/college-rankings-2/#comment-19193 Great to hear these different perspectives regarding college rankings. After listening to the college presidents, it's pretty clear that an individual's college research process has to dig deeper and reach farther than a mere glance at college rankings. Unfortunately, however, among high school students and their parents, college rankings provide a sort of "anchoring" mechanism that strongly, and perhaps somewhat unconsciously, influences the picture of a college's academic reputation. When a college's ranking is the first statistic available to all consumers, it becomes the de facto starting point for the college research process. It serves as the main "guidepost" against which subsequent evidence gathered in the research process is measured, and thereby distorts perceptions of the college's strengths and weaknesses. I hope college administrators emphasize their colleges' qualitative strengths to help offset the misleading influence upon consumers of over-reliance on quantitative rankings. Great to hear these different perspectives regarding college rankings. After listening to the college presidents, it’s pretty clear that an individual’s college research process has to dig deeper and reach farther than a mere glance at college rankings. Unfortunately, however, among high school students and their parents, college rankings provide a sort of “anchoring” mechanism that strongly, and perhaps somewhat unconsciously, influences the picture of a college’s academic reputation. When a college’s ranking is the first statistic available to all consumers, it becomes the de facto starting point for the college research process. It serves as the main “guidepost” against which subsequent evidence gathered in the research process is measured, and thereby distorts perceptions of the college’s strengths and weaknesses. I hope college administrators emphasize their colleges’ qualitative strengths to help offset the misleading influence upon consumers of over-reliance on quantitative rankings.

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