2011 PA Scores

xiggi
Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:29:22 +0000

Xiggi leaves out the rest of the Wisconsin story. The official who did that was relieved of his duties in that regard. He also offers a more detailed explanation. Of course no private instutions were even subject to such scrutiny as they would never divilge such information.

Ranking rancor



The PA fans are a pretty funny bunch. Actually, since they tend to contradict themselves on several occasions, I am not sure if they are actually fans. After all, perhaps Barrons does not like the PA too much, but only likes the impact of the PA on the final scores. Or something equaly illogical.

In the meantime, I’d say that “leaving the rest” out the Wisconsin story should be pretty accurate since I did NOT attempt to tell the entire story, especially since it’s old news.

On the other hand, it’s pretty interesting that the parts of the story I left out might have been VERY much along the lines of what** I have written **about the PA, including in this thread.

Let’s have a look"



One of the key components of the U.S. News and World Report rankings is a peer assessment survey, which accounts for 25 percent of a school’s point total. This survey asks respondents to “**rate the academic quality of undergraduate programs **at the following schools” on a five-point scale that ranges from “distinguished” to “marginal.” Survey takers are also directed to “review the entire list first, considering each program’s scholarship record, curriculum and quality of faculty and graduates.”

And one of those “apathetic respondents” was UW-Madison’s own Brower. He ranked 259 of the 262 schools as “adequate,” which is the second-lowest rating on the scale. He gave the highest marks, “distinguished,” to UW-Madison and the New School, based in New York City, and rated Arizona State as “marginal.”

Brower says he rated most schools as adequate because he wanted to respond in a “neutral way” to a “poorly designed survey” that he believes has gained far too much importance.

“The problem with an overall ranking of colleges is that without set criteria, you don’t know what it means,” says Brower, who argues that ratings of specific programs based on narrow criteria could, on the other hand, be “extremely helpful” to prospective students.

Brower filled out the survey that had been mailed to Julie Underwood, at the time UW-Madison’s interim provost. Underwood said she passed this task along to Brower because she felt he was the most qualified person within the provost’s office to fill out the survey.

Brower is not the only UW-Madison official to raise questions about the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Former UW-Madison chancellor John Wiley told the Cap Times one year ago that these ratings “have no meaning.”

“It’s like astrology,” Wiley said in a candid conversation just days before Biddy Martin took over as chancellor in September 2008. “It’s amusing. And people read it, so it’s in the paper. But that’s about it. The idea that there is a best university in the country is scientific nonsense.”

**Without a more specific list of criteria, **Brower believes the survey portion of the rankings is akin to asking “‘What’s a better car, a Prius or a Jaguar?’ Well, if you’re talking about gas mileage, it’s the Prius. But if you’re talking about luxury, it’s the Jaguar.”

Brower insists he wasn’t trying to game the system to help UW-Madison in the rankings.

“I had no reason to think that my ratings would have any impact,” he said. “UW-Madison already is high in the rankings.”



In fact, had I posted the “untold” story, I probably would have been pillored and accused of selective posting.

Where there a few items worth sharing? Facts that corroborate my often repeated claims that people who sign the survey rarely fill it in, and that whoever does it should reply I DO NOT KNOW to about 95% of the evaluation.



http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/08/19/rankings
This news surprised Julie Underwood, then-interim provost, when informed by Inside Higher Ed this month. That’s because she didn’t fill out the survey submitted in her name. As many other officials do, she sent it to an administrator to complete on her behalf – in this case, Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning, who had never filled it out before. Underwood did not give her input or approval before he returned it to U.S. News.

Asked why he didn’t check “don’t know” for all the other institutions, or refuse to complete the survey, Brower says the possibility never occurred to him: “It seemed like this was a task that I was to do and I was to do it the best I could.” And he insists that he wasn’t trying to game the system, noting that his survey was one of hundreds.



As I said, the PA fans are a pretty funny bunch! And they make me smile quite often.