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U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has criticized the annual higher education rankings published by U.S. News and World Report, stating that they have created an unhealthy obsession with selectivity. Speaking at a conference organized by the Harvard and Yale universities law schools, Cardona argued that U.S. News’ emphasis on selectivity and exclusivity has helped steer underserved students to lower-tier institutions. He further asserted, “it’s time to stop worshipping at the false altar of U.S. News & World Report.”
The conference, held at Harvard Law School, focused on “best practices” involving law school data and followed a large-scale exodus of law schools that once participated in U.S. News’ rankings. Over 40 law schools, including Yale and Harvard, have vowed to stop providing internal data to U.S. News, citing concerns that the rankings hurt student diversity and affordability. However, over 50 law schools have said they will continue participating in the rankings.
U.S. News has said it will continue to rank all American Bar Association-accredited law schools but will rely solely on publicly available ABA data for the upcoming ranking this spring. It has also modified the rankings methodology to give more weight to schools’ employment and bar-pass rate while decreasing the weight of reputational surveys. Additionally, several categories will be eliminated, including law schools’ expenditure-per-student.
In an open letter posted to its website on Wednesday, U.S. News defended its rankings as a resource for aspiring lawyers to make informed decisions. The publication also hoped that Cardona would call on all schools to provide “open access to all of their undergraduate and graduate school data, using a common data set.”
Yale law dean Heather Gerken reiterated that the U.S. News rankings have damaged legal education. She stated that “we can think about how to do better.” Many conference speakers also cited U.S. News’ uniform approach to assessing law schools and said that the rankings drive up tuition.
Christopher Norio Avery, a public policy professor at Harvard, suggested that law schools and other organizations should carefully assess how to build alternative rankings. He stated, “We’re at a very delicate moment where dramatically changing a system that isn’t working has exciting upside possibilities but may have a range of unintended consequences.”
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The controversy over the U.S. News rankings has been ongoing for some time, with some critics arguing that the rankings do not accurately reflect the quality of education at different institutions. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the impact of the rankings on student diversity and their influence on tuition rates.
While U.S. News has defended its rankings as a valuable tool for students and families, the growing number of law schools and other institutions opting out of the rankings suggests a need for alternative approaches to assessing the quality of education. The debate over the rankings will continue as educators and policymakers seek to ensure that all students have access to high-quality education and opportunities for success.
