'U.S. News' Plan to Rank Online Colleges Worries Some Officials - Rachel Wiseman and Jeffrey R. Young; Chronicle of Higher Ed

The annual college rankings by U.S. News & World Report—demonized by many college leaders as being overly simplistic yet touted by institutions that score well—will soon expand to include online programs. The move is already drawing concern from some longtime distance-education leaders, who argue that virtual programs are even more difficult to compare than traditional ones, in part, because they are still so new and untested. This week the editor of U.S. News, Brian Kelly, sent an e-mail to hundreds of top college officials announcing the magazine's intention to extensively rank online programs for the first time in the 28-year history of the popular college guide. Editors say they consulted with leaders of several major online programs to create surveys to score the quality of virtual programs, which they plan to mail to institutions in the next few weeks. However, the magazine has not yet revealed the methodology it will use to make comparisons.