How does U.S. News and World Report use the new classifications in its annual college rankings?
U.S. News uses the Basic classification to define its comparison groups (see Ranking Category Definitions on the U.S. News Web site). For a critique of this approach, see Hidden in Plain View in Inside Higher Ed. Because the organizing framework of the U.S. News comparison groups is based on a conception of regional and national markets, and because this information is not a factor in our classifications, the Carnegie Foundation believes that U.S. News should develop an approach to defining comparison groups that is better suited to its analytic framework. Questions about the U.S. News rankings should be directed to Robert Morse, Director of Data Research at U.S. News, at rmorse@usnews.com, or by phone at 202-955-2389.
