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Value-added Rankings of Colleges

Posted on May 11, 2015 | Comments Off

This post was adapted from a Brookings report evaluating two- and four-year colleges’ contributions to economic outcomes of their students. The report, “Beyond College Rankings: A Value-Added Approach to Assessing Two and Four Year Schools,” by Brookings Fellow Jonathan Rothwell and Senior Research Assistant Siddharth Kulkarni, offers a new tool to help prospective college students think about where to attend.
A college’s “value-added” is the difference between the actual mid-career salary of graduates from that college and an estimation of what a student from a similar school would have earned. While imperfect, these value-added measures improve on conventional rankings and fill a demand for greater transparency and accountability in higher education.
Five key college quality factors are strongly associated with more successful economic outcomes for alumni in terms of salary, occupational earnings power, and loan repayment:
• Curriculum value: The amount earned by people in the workforce who hold degrees in a field of study offered by the college, averaged across all the degrees the college awards;
• Alumni skills: The average labor market value, as determined by job openings, of skills listed on alumni resumes;
• STEM orientation: The share of graduates prepared to work in STEM occupations;
• Completion rates: The percentage of students finishing their award within at least twice the
normal time (four years for a two-year college, eight years for a four-year college);
• Student aid: The average level of financial support given to students by the institution itself.
The following chart lists 4 year colleges ranked by mid-career earnings of the typical graduate. Value Added Mid Year Earnings (100 = top score)
Georgia 4 Year College Rankings

	Institution	City	State	Earnings
20	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	Atlanta	Ga.	98
109	Southern Polytechnic State University	Marietta	Ga.	88
282	Mercer University	Macon	Ga.	68
311	Columbus State University	Columbus	Ga.	65
314	University of Georgia	Athens	Ga.	64
426	Emory University	Atlanta	Ga.	51
465	Georgia Southern University	Statesboro	Ga.	47
488	Georgia State University	Atlanta	Ga.	44

Top 100 4 Year Colleges

	Institution	City	State	Earnings
1	California Institute of Technology	Pasadena	Calif.	100
2	Colgate University	Hamilton	N.Y.	100
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge	Mass.	100
4	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	Terre Haute	Ind.	100
5	Carleton College	Northfield	Minn.	100
6	Washington and Lee University	Lexington	Va.	100
7	SUNY Maritime College	Throggs Neck	N.Y.	100
8	Clarkson University	Potsdam	N.Y.	100
9	Manhattan College	Riverdale	N.Y.	99
10	Stanford University	Stanford	Calif.	99
11	Harvey Mudd College	Claremont	Calif.	99
12	Rice University	Houston	Texas	99
13	Marietta College	Marietta	Ohio	99
14	Virginia Military Institute	Lexington	Va.	99
15	Polytechnic Institute of New York University	Brooklyn	N.Y.	99
16	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Worcester	Mass.	99
17	St Mary’s University	San Antonio	Texas	99
18	Stevens Institute of Technology	Hoboken	N.J.	98
19	Bradley University	Peoria	Ill.	98
20	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	Atlanta	Ga.	98
21	Missouri University of Science and Technology	Rolla	Mo.	98
22	Michigan Technological University	Houghton	Mich.	98
23	University of Rochester	Rochester	N.Y.	98
24	Tufts University	Medford	Mass.	98
25	Williams College	Williamstown	Mass.	98
26	University of California-Berkeley	Berkeley	Calif.	97
27	Westmont College	Santa Barbara	Calif.	97
28	Wagner College	Staten Island	N.Y.	97
29	Colorado School of Mines	Golden	Colo.	97
30	Brown University	Providence	R.I.	97
31	Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh	Pa.	97
32	Drake University	Des Moines	Iowa	97
33	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Troy	N.Y.	97
34	Harvard University	Cambridge	Mass.	97
35	Babson College	Wellesley	Mass.	96
36	University of Scranton	Scranton	Pa.	96
37	DePauw University	Greencastle	Ind.	96
38	Cornell University	Ithaca	N.Y.	96
39	Milwaukee School of Engineering	Milwaukee	Wis.	96
40	Santa Clara University	Santa Clara	Calif.	96
41	John Carroll University	University Heights	Ohio	96
42	LeTourneau University	Longview	Texas	96
43	Gettysburg College	Gettysburg	Pa.	96
44	Saint Mary’s College of California	Moraga	Calif.	95
45	Duke University	Durham	N.C.	95
46	Kenyon College	Gambier	Ohio	95
47	Lehigh University	Bethlehem	Pa.	95
48	Pacific Lutheran University	Tacoma	Wash.	95
49	Loyola University Maryland	Baltimore	Md.	95
50	Texas A & M University-College Station	College Station	Texas	95
51	Gonzaga University	Spokane	Wash.	95
52	Illinois Institute of Technology	Chicago	Ill.	94
53	Princeton University	Princeton	N.J.	94
54	Alfred University	Alfred	N.Y.	94
55	Rhodes College	Memphis	Tenn.	94
56	Oregon Institute of Technology	Klamath Falls	Ore.	94
57	University of Massachusetts-Lowell	Lowell	Mass.	94
58	Bucknell University	Lewisburg	Pa.	94
59	Prairie View A & M University	Prairie View	Texas	94
60	Hofstra University	Hempstead	N.Y.	94
61	University of Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Ind.	93
62	Elizabethtown College	Elizabethtown	Pa.	93
63	University of California-Davis	Davis	Calif.	93
64	Yale University	New Haven	Conn.	93
65	New Jersey Institute of Technology	Newark	N.J.	93
66	Saint Peter’s University	Jersey City	N.J.	93
67	Franklin and Marshall College	Lancaster	Pa.	93
68	College of the Holy Cross	Worcester	Mass.	93
69	Willamette University	Salem	Ore.	93
70	Whitman College	Walla Walla	Wash.	92
71	Wentworth Institute of Technology	Boston	Mass.	92
72	Lafayette College	Easton	Pa.	92
73	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Pa.	92
74	Gannon University	Erie	Pa.	92
75	Southern University and A & M College	Baton Rouge	La.	92
76	Mount St Mary’s College	Los Angeles	Calif.	92
77	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Champaign	Ill.	92
78	University of California-Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara	Calif.	91
79	University of the Pacific	Stockton	Calif.	91
80	La Salle University	Philadelphia	Pa.	91
81	Occidental College	Los Angeles	Calif.	91
82	Swarthmore College	Swarthmore	Pa.	91
83	SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica-Rome	Utica	N.Y.	91
84	The University of Texas at Austin	Austin	Texas	91
85	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Blacksburg	Va.	91
86	Wofford College	Spartanburg	S.C.	91
87	Ohio Northern University	Ada	Ohio	90
88	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland	Ohio	90
89	New Mexico State University-Main Campus	Las Cruces	N.M.	90
90	University of Tulsa	Tulsa	Okla.	90
91	California Lutheran University	Thousand Oaks	Calif.	90
92	University of St Thomas	Saint Paul	Minn.	90
93	Reed College	Portland	Ore.	90
94	Florida Institute of Technology	Melbourne	Fla.	90
95	LIU Brooklyn	Brooklyn	N.Y.	90
96	Dickinson College	Carlisle	Pa.	89
97	Tennessee Technological University	Cookeville	Tenn.	89
98	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo	Calif.	89
99	Le Moyne College	Syracuse	N.Y.	89
100	Lake Forest College	Lake Forest	Ill.	89

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Posted in College

New Superintendent In Our Very Near Future

Posted on May 8, 2015 | 2 comments

New Superintendent finalists’ names will be released in the very near future.
The DeKalb County Board of Education met this past weekend to interview candidates to replace outgoing superintendent Michael Thurmond. Recently abhorrently racist comments came to light, and on Monday the school board moved to immediately severe its working relationship with ProAct.
On Wednesday, the school board met again and is moving forward with a list of highly qualified candidates. Nelson Mullins, the district’s outside counsel, has a great deal of experience with superintendent searches and will step in to close the process. A list of 1 to 3 superintendent finalists’ names will be released in the “very near future”.
In the mean time, Superintendent Michael Thurmond told the AJC that he would stay on until his replacement is found. It is undetermined if Mr. Thurmond will stay on board for a transition period. The school board has only one employee, the superintendent. Once Mr. Thurmond steps down, the transition team and logistics will be up to the new superintendent.
PCU, Parent Councils United, released an open letter to the public welcoming the unknown new superintendent and mentioned the current superintendent’s status as “beloved my many in the community”.
Open Letter to DeKalb’s Next Superintendent
By: PCU
Dear New Superintendent,
DeKalb County is ready for you! We don’t know who you are, but we have been hearing about you for the last few weeks. Our Board’s Community Liaison Group is impressed by you. They became acquainted with you on paper, discussed your accomplishments, and highly recommended you to be interviewed by our Board of Education. Last weekend, our BOE members left their interview with you energized and excited by what you could bring to our district. We know that you must have inspired them because they have been able to stay focused on completing their search for you in the midst of many distractions. We commend our Board for staying true to their goal of finding you, so that you can bring strong visionary leadership and continue the progress made over the last two years.
If you watched our Board of Education meetings yesterday, you are aware of the distractions our Board is facing. Board members voted to terminate the contract with our superintendent search firm, PROACT, in the midst of controversy surrounding the firm’s CEO. PROACT’s sister company, SUPES Academy, was involved in a no-bid contract with Chicago Public Schools. This contract is now under investigation. As documents have been released during the course of the investigation, the PROACT/SUPES CEO has come under fire for his behavior in the 1990’s. Luckily, the Chicago scandal has nothing to do with you. Our Board has an independent relationship with you and doesn’t need the search firm to facilitate that.
You may be hearing that some citizens are asking our current superintendent to stay in place. This phenomenon happens with any leadership transition—people are apprehensive of change. Mr. Thurmond has told us that he is not interested in the job and is stepping down on June 30, 2015. We understand the sentiment regarding Mr. Thurmond; he is beloved by many in the community. Because of this, we believe he can help smooth the path for you. He has the best interests of our students in mind, so we expect that he will help you transition into the superintendent role and share the wisdom he has gained over his tenure.
We want you to know that parent leaders are not the only DeKalb stakeholders who are ready to welcome you. Parent Councils United (PCU) hosted a roundtable discussion with some of DeKalb County’s most influential leaders, such as Interim CEO Lee May, DeKalb Legislative Delegation Chair Howard Mosby, and Chamber of Commerce Chair-Elect Al Edwards. During this January, 2015 meeting, we discussed cityhood initiatives, annexation movements, reform efforts, and DeKalb County Schools. The group acknowledged that the quality of the school system impacts all areas of the county and that finding you was/is a top priority for DeKalb. PCU has reached out to metro Atlanta and DeKalb leaders from various organizations. These leaders stand ready to welcome you. They are affiliated with organizations such as the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, Leadership DeKalb, Leadership Atlanta, the Junior League of DeKalb County, South DeKalb Improvement Association, DeKalb County Council of PTAs, DeKalb Municipal Association, the Latin American Association and our metro Atlanta universities.
PCU is supporting our Board of Education as it hires you, and we will support you as you transition into the role as DeKalb Superintendent. PCU includes executive board members from Dunwoody Chamblee Parent Council (DCPC), Emory LaVista Parent Council (ELPC), South DeKalb Parent Council (SDPC), and Tucker Parent Council. We pledge to do whatever we can to help you so that you can lead us and our children into a bright DeKalb County future.
Sincerely,
Parent Councils United