How did the Carnegie Foundation choose the new classifications from the range of possibilities?
The Carnegie Classification has always analyzed existing national data to assess what institutions do. Consequently, we have been limited to information that is available for all institutions. Retaining the classification’s traditional focus on empirical indicators of institutional activity drawn from the available national data, we wanted classifications that would answer three key questions: what is taught, to whom, and in what setting? We wanted to call special attention to the instructional program, and the shift to multiple classifications enabled us to do so in far greater detail than would have been possible in a single classification. In focusing on the student population and institutional setting, we also bring in characteristics that have been used by other analysts to represent important institutional differences.
