If this has been the winter of our discontent, we are now entering the slush season of high anxiety for high school seniors, who will soon learn which colleges have extended an admissions offer and which have politely said no. Nothing has done more to reinforce the significance of the admissions game than US News, whose college rankings have become the bible of the higher education hierarchy.
Most people probably already know intuitively that the quality of an enterprise as complex as college education can’t readily be reduced to a simple ranking. But leave it to Malcolm Gladwell, master of the deconstruction of everyday things, to explain just how and why the rankings make little sense. In a recent New Yorker piece, “The order of things,” [full version only available to subscribers] he argues that the US News rating system can’t possibly offer useful information because it lumps into one big listing schools with wildly differing characteristics and assigns them each a single score based on seven somewhat arbitrary variables, which are given varying weights.
What’s more, it’s not even clear that all the variables are measuring what they claim. “Faculty resources” count for 20 percent of a school’s score. So far, so good, says Gladwell. “According to educational researchers, arguably the most important variable in a successful college education is a vague but crucial concept called student ‘engagement’ – that is, the extent to which students immerse themselves in the intellectual and social life of their college – and a major component of engagement is the quality of a student’s contacts with faculty.” But the US News rankings determine “faculty resources” through a composite score that includes everything from class sizes, to faculty salary and the percentage of faculty with the highest degree in their field. “Do professors who get paid more really take their teaching roles more seriously?” Gladwell asks.
He dismisses the category of “academic reputation” (the most important of the seven US News variables, accounting for 22.5 percent of the total score) with an anecdote about a former Michigan supreme court chief justice who asked fellow lawyers to rank a list of 10 law schools in order of quality. Penn State landed in the middle of the pack – even though the university had no law school at the time (it now does).
The reputation scores are based on overall brand-name perception of a school, with much of that perception based on a school’s historic US News ranking, and so there’s very little schools can do to change that. “The US News ratings are a self-fulfilling prophecy,” writes Gladwell.
William Durden, the president of Dickinson College, a small liberal arts school in Pennsylvania, jumped at the chance to cheer Gladwell’s dismissal of the US News rankings. Look here for some thoughtful online exchange on the article hosted by Washington Post writer Jay Mathews.
–MICHAEL JONAS
EDUCATION
Rather than being a drag on UMass finances, the new law school in Dartmouth is, instead, turning into a cash cow for the university, reports the New Bedford Standard-Times.
A Canton school that uses a controversial system of electrical shocks to discipline special-needs students spent $100,000 on lobbying to kill a bill in Congress that might have banned the practice, the Globe reports.
Cape Cod ‘s three vocational schools deliver some of the highest graduation rates in the region.
Haverhill School Superintendent James Scully received a $35,000 raise as the pay of other city workers was frozen, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
The teachers union in Andover, without a contract since June, takes it case to the public, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
POLITICS
Gov. Deval Patrick offered high praise yesterday for former governor Mitt Romney’s health care overhaul in Massachusetts, but some think the kudos he offered on ABC’s “This Week” program will reappear in attack ads by Republican rivals linking “RomneyCare” to “ObamaCare” should Mitt seek the GOP presidential nomination.
TRANSPORTATION
Secretary of Transportation Jeffrey Mullan sits down to talk with Keller@Large about moving large numbers of taxpaying and fare-paying people and once again weather dominates the discussion.
UNIONS
The National Review gets to the heart of the Wisconsin contretemps: With 30 percent of state and 43 percent of local public employees in unions, it’s not just the economic power conservatives are looking to curtail, it’s the political influence.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says all the rallies haven’t swayed him, NECN reports.
Lawrence ’s personnel director tells a Spanish newspaper that he “just can’t undersand all the grievances, arbitrations, and labor charges” filed by union members. He calls the situation “ridiculous,” according to a story in the Eagle-Tribune.
The Lowell Sun, in an editorial, calls for eliminating the Pacheco law, which it calls another example of unions protecting their jobs and their interests.
Paul Toner, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute, discuss Wisconsin on WBUR.
Taylor Amerding sides with Walker in the Wisconsin union dispute.
Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk, writing in the Gloucester Times, offers some lessons she has learned from dealing with public sector unions. She says Massachusetts is not Wisconsin – yet.
Maine Gov. Paul Le Page plans right-to-work legislation that would allow workers to avoid joining or paying dues to a labor union.
In his regular Herald column, former Patrick aide Doug Rubin predicts a swift backlash to conservatives’ anti-union push.
The New York Times breaks down the policy differences of three Republican governors wrestling with budget deficits – Walker, Mitch Daniels, and Chris Christie — including in their approaches to public-sector unions.
The Wisconsin Capitol Pajama Party will continue until further notice.
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION
The Brockton Enterprise reports since the Community Preservation Act was passed in 2000, at least 67 and towns have used the funds to repair historic municipally owned buildings.
CRIME
Despite an increasing number of communities enacting restrictions on where convicted sex offenders can live, the number of registered Level 3 offenders has risen on the South Shore in the last two years, according to the Patriot Ledger.
The number of inmates in Bristol county has grown but nowhere near the rate of the jail’s budget for medical and dental care, which now costs the sheriff’s office $7.1 million a year, double what it was five years ago, according to the New Bedford Standard Times.
BEACON HILL
A pair of Boston Herald editorials warn Gov. Deval Patrick to focus on the ambitious agenda he has set for himself in his day job, and criticize the governor’s handling of his quasi-public agency purge.
Here are the final standings on the House’s 2010 per diem leader board.
Restaurant owners lobby for a meals tax holiday.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Live music, a high-end food truck, and free wi-fi are in Boston Common’s near-term future, reports the Globe.
Chatham and Yarmouth plan votes on nonbinding resolutions on corporate spending in political campaigns.
Paid parking plan wins few fans on Nantucket.
The town of Saugus is running out of burial space at Riverside Cemetery and has to decide whether to expand, the Item reports.
ECONOMY/BUSINESS
The Cape Cod Times speculates that the closure of the Borders in Hyannis may be a boon to locally-owned bookstores.
ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
A Berkshire Eagle editorial supports a new biofuel initiative by a Dalton paper manufacturer.
ELECTION 2012
Sarah who? New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie becomes the darling of Republican conservatives and fuels new speculation about his possible presidential aspirations.
Karl Rove readies his comeback.
WASHINGTON
Republicans want to end the Obama administration’s struggling mortgage modification initiative.
HEALTH CARE
More than half the states want leeway to push citizens off their Medicaid rolls.
At National Governors Association meeting, officials say Medicaid is even more of a budget buster than ever. WBUR has the story.
FISHING
Sen. Scott Brown says he intends to vote for a measure that would cut off funding for future catch-share programs on fishing, the Gloucester Times reports.
MEDIA
A letter to the editor in the Salem News says the newspaper’s new policy requiring a person to identify himself when making online postings will stifle free speech.
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