Evaluating Higher Education Institutions: A Discussion on College Rankings

October 16, 2007, 12:00pm – 1:30pm

About This Event

Do parents and students have the information they need to make decisions about what college or university to choose? What criteria do we value in institutions of higher education and what information do we need to make choices about where to attend? Join us for a discussion of college and university rankings and the availability of public information on the performance of institutions of higher learning. The discussion will address questions about whether and how institutions of higher education should be ranked, what criteria are important, and whether the public has access to the information that we need to make informed decisions.

High quality education for all students has long been a priority of the Center for American Progress. This event is being co-sponsored by Campus Progress, the Center for American Progress' comprehensive effort to help young people make their voices heard and empower new generations of leaders. Launched in 2005, Campus Progress supports student programs in journalism, activism, and public education, and has held hundreds of events on a wide range of issues. Kevin Carey, Education Sector
Paul Glastis, Washington Monthly
Kenneth Terrell, U. S. News and World Report

Moderated by:

Cynthia G. Brown, Center for American Progress

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Kevin Carey is the Research and Policy Manager of Education Sector, an independent education think tank located in Washington, DC. After completing a B.A. in political science from Binghamton University in 1992 and a Master's of Public Administration from the Ohio State University in 1995, Carey worked as an education finance analyst for the state of Indiana, where he developed a new formula for setting local property taxes and distributing state education aid. He subsequently served as a senior analyst for the Indiana Senate Finance Committee, writing legislation and advising the Democratic caucus on fiscal policy. From 1999 to 2001, he served as Indiana's Assistant State Budget Director for Education, where he advised the governor on finance and policy issues in K-12 and higher education.

In 2001, Carey moved to Washington, DC, where he worked as an analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-profit research organization focused on policies that serve low- and moderate-income families. There he published new research on state poverty-based education funding programs. Carey subsequently worked at The Education Trust, where he was Director of Policy Research. He wrote articles and publication on topics including implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, "value-added" measure of teacher effectiveness, state education funding disparities, using state education data systems to analyze minority participation in science and mathematics, improving the distribution of quality teachers to low-income and minority students, and increasing college graduation rates. He designed and implemented the www.collegeresults.org graduation rate Web site.

Carey currently manages Education Sector's policy team. In addition to regularly contributing to the www.quickanded.com blog, Carey has published numerous reports and policy briefs, including "College Rankings Reformed," a blueprint for a new system of college rankings, and "Hot Air," an analysis of how states inflate education progress under NCLB. While at Education Sector, Carey has published articles and Op-eds in publications including the Washington Monthly, Washington Post, New York Daily News, Christian Science Monitor, Phi Delta Kappan, American Prospect, Guardian Unlimited, Change, and Education Week.

Paul Glastris is the editor-in-chief of The Washington Monthly. From September 1998 to January, 2001, Glastris was a special assistant and senior speechwriter to the President Bill Clinton. He wrote over 200 speeches for the president, on subjects ranging from education to health care to the budget. He co-wrote the President's address to the Democratic convention in Los Angeles in August, 2000, and contributed to his 1999 and 2000 State of the Union addresses. In November 1999, Glastris traveled with Clinton to Turkey and Greece and wrote the President's landmark address to the Greek people. Glastris created the President's "DC Reads this Summer" program, which has put over 1000 federal employees as volunteer reading tutors in Washington, DC public schools. He also promoted several administration policy initiatives, including a new food stamp rule that allows the working poor to own cars.

Before joining the White House, Glastris spent ten years as a correspondent and editor at U.S. News & World Report. There, he conceived of and edited two end-of-the-year issues consisting of "solution-oriented" journalism in 1997 and 1998. As Bureau Chief in Berlin, Germany (1995/1996), he covered the former Yugoslavia during final months of the Bosnian War, and wrote stories from Germany, Russia, Greece, and Turkey. Prior to that, he covered the Midwest from the magazine's Chicago bureau during two presidential campaigns, the Mississippi floods of 1993, and the rise of the Michigan Militia. He produced profiles of Midwest mayors, governors and other personalities, from Jesse Jackson to then-Presidential candidate Bill Clinton.

From 1985 to 1986, Glastris was an editor of The Washington Monthly. He holds a bachelor's degree in history and a masters in radio, TV and film from Northwestern University.

Glastris writes and speaks on presidential and White House communications and strategy; foreign and national security; the presidential race; the state of the Democratic party; press criticism; inside-the-beltway political culture; education policy; immigration; and ethnic politics. He has appeared frequently on MSNBC's Scarborough Country and National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation, as well as on NBC, CNN, Fox, and C-SPAN.

Kenneth Terrell started at U.S.News & World Report nearly a decade ago. He has reported, written, and edited myriad News You Can Use® stories offering readers the latest info and advice on education, learning, technology, gizmos, and gadgets to make everyday life easier, more enriching and fun. He has been assistant managing editor for the Education section since May 2007, in charge of all coverage of higher education and K-12 news. He also oversees the editorial portion of America's Best Colleges and America's Best Graduate Schools. In his previous role as the Education and Special Projects section's deputy editor, he oversaw the magazine's E-Learning packages and helped edit America's Best Colleges and America's Best Graduate Schools.

As a technology reporter just after his 1998 arrival at U.S. News, Terrell covered the rise of the video-game industry and the then-new phenomenon of music downloading. After a quick stint in the Science section, he became deputy editor for Diversions. In addition to his weekly responsibilities for that lifestyle section, he worked on projects including the annual technology guides, Best of the Web, and E-learning guides. Terrell directed double issues such as "Secrets of the Civil War" (June 2007), "History on the Hill: American Politics Through the Lives of the Five Black U.S. Senators" (February 2007), "50 Ways to Improve Your Life" (December 2006), and "Mysteries of History: Who Was First?" (August 2006).

Before joining U.S. News, Terrell worked for the Syracuse Newspapers as a crime reporter from 1996 to 1998. Prior to that, he covered politics for the Portland Oregonian in 1996. During the summer of 1996, Terrell worked on general assignment for the Newshouse Wire Service. A Chicago native and an occasional drummer, Terrell holds a master's in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a bachelor's in English, American Studies, and Afro-American Studies from Princeton University.

Media Appearances: Terrell has been interviewed on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, and numerous major metro and national radio shows, including National Public Radio's Diane Rehm Show (WAMU-FM, Washington, D.C.).

Cynthia G. Brown is Director of Education Policy and served as Director of Renewing our Schools, Securing our Future National Task Force on Public Education, a joint initiative of the Center and the Institute for America's Future. Cindy has spent over 35 years working in a variety of professional positions addressing high-quality, equitable public education. Prior to joining the Center for American Progress, she was an independent education consultant who advised and wrote for local and state school systems, education associations, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and a corporation. From 1986 through September 2001, Brown served as Director of the Resource Center on Educational Equity of the Council of Chief State School Officers. She was appointed by President Carter as the first Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education (1980). Prior to that position, she served as Principal Deputy of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's (HEW) Office for Civil Rights. Subsequent to this government service, she was Co-Director of the nonprofit Equality Center. Before the Carter Administration, she worked for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law, the Children's Defense Fund, and began her career in the HEW Office for Civil Rights as an investigator. Brown has a Master's in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a B.A. from Oberlin College. She serves as Chair of the American Youth Policy Forum Board of Directors and on the Boards of Directors of the Hyde Leadership Public Charter School and the National Association for Teen Fitness and Exercise.