Ever since the Department suggested ratings a couple of years ago, the notion has been under fire. Republicans in Congress actually took steps to withhold funding for the scheme. Meanwhile many higher ed leaders raised serious concerns about the bureaucracy's capacity to generate fair evaluations.
I tend to agree with the critics. Arnie Duncan, Barack Obama and the gang are joined at the hip to elitist Harvard scholars of higher education who disdain what we do down in the trenches at "average" colleges and universities. They have unrealistic ideas about what goes on in the K-12 environment since most of these policy gurus' experience is confined to a couple of years in Teach America, from what I hear. Their Ivy League educations have prepared them no better to fairly rate the rest of us, the great unwashed of higher education.
Ergo, the new direction is not only sensible, but a relief for many.
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