To the USC Rossier community,
Last spring, USC Rossier did not participate in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. We removed ourselves because, for several years, USC Rossier had been inaccurately reporting data on research and student enrollment to U.S. News. Since then, we have taken steps to ensure that any data we share with students, employers, and the public is accurate.
Since the spring, I’ve had numerous conversations about these rankings with President Folt, Provost Zukoski, our students, alumni, staff, and education leaders across the country. With their support, I’ve decided USC Rossier will not participate in the U.S. News process this year, or going forward. I’m doing this because the rankings’ methodology does not measure what our school values most: Advancing access, equity and diversity in education through research and the work of our graduates. Instead, the methodology incentivizes choices that limit educational access, and we do not want to play that game.
USC Rossier is proud to prepare a large number of working educators to lead schools, districts and systems, including Wendy Birhanzel EdD ’07, who was just named superintendent of the year in Colorado where she leads a small, predominantly minority, low-income school district. We are also proud to partner with the L.A. Unified School District to train teachers to work in high-needs schools in our neighborhoods. These are just two examples of our impact that the rankings do not measure.
This decision does nothing to change USC Rossier’s commitment to academic rigor and transparency. We will continue to recruit world-class faculty, produce research that influences the field and give students the tools they need to improve lives.
Fight On!
Pedro A. Noguera, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Education
Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
USC Rossier School of Education
