Kevin Carey – The Washington Monthly: “…Instead of rewarding colleges for the number of applications they reject, we give them credit for enrolling unusually large numbers of low-income and first-generation students. Instead of assuming that the most expensive schools are also the best, we recognize universities that produce research, train the next generation of scientists and PhDs, and instill their graduates with an ethos of public service. Our rankings are meant to be more than just a guide for potential students. An educated, enlightened society is a better society, for everyone. We all have a stake in how well our colleges succeed. To that end, we’ve called for colleges to release much more information about themselves—in particular, how much their students learn. And we’ve seen leaders of both parties, at the highest levels of government, respond. Not long after our first rankings were published, George W. Bush’s education secretary, Margaret Spellings, issued a high-profile report calling for colleges to release more information about how well undergraduates are educated, and be accountable for the results…”