The U.S. Education Department is seeking suggestions from colleges, students, and others on how it should design President Obama’s proposed college-rating system.
In a notice scheduled to be published in Tuesday’s Federal Register, the department requests input on which measures to use in the ratings, how they should be weighted and combined, and how colleges should be grouped “to ensure appropriate comparisons.” The department also wants advice on how to present the information to the public and examples of model rating systems.
Mr. Obama announced the plan to develop a college-rating system—to compare institutions on measures of access, affordability, and outcomes—in August, during a three-campus swing through upstate New York and Pennsylvania. Since then, the department has held a series of public forums and round tables to seek feedback on the plan, including an event on Monday morning at the University of California at Davis.
At many of those events, college leaders have warned that a ratings system will punish institutions that serve low-income students and those that prepare graduates for high-need but low-paying professions. They have cautioned that ratings could compel poorly performing colleges to turn away at-risk students, relax graduation standards, or drop degrees in low-paying fields.
Goal Is Simplicity
Education Department officials have said they are “well aware” of the potential for perverse incentives, and have promised to consult people with a stake in the system as well as data experts. At a meeting with reporters on Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said officials “recognize that if we do this poorly, we could do some real damage.”
Asked if the department was intent on assigning a “composite score” to each college, Mr. Duncan said no, suggesting that it might rate colleges on a handful of discrete measurements instead. Still, he said, the ultimate goal is simplicity.
“If it’s overly complicated, you add to the noise, not the clarity,” he said.
Jamienne S. Studley, deputy under secretary for higher education and a former president of Skidmore College, said some college leaders had suggested that the department look to Consumer Reports or the ratings of consumer electronic games as models.
Another department official, Jeff Appel, said the department was impressed by Lehigh University’s approach to reporting student outcomes. Lehigh’s career-services office publishes job-placement rates by college, along with lists of the top employers, starting salaries, and breakdowns on how graduating students had found their jobs.
Asked if the college’s disclosure was “the beginnings of a model,” Mr. Appel responded: “It is pretty good. It highlights a lot of what the president wants.”
In January the department will convene a group of experts to help it choose the system’s metrics and their weights. A draft plan for the system is due in the spring.
