Photo: Sisters Chapel at Spelman College
BY TIMES SPECIAL REPORT
Washington, D.C. – Spelman College, Howard University and Hampton University top the list of U.S.News & World Report’s first annual ranking of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities, the magazine announced this week.
Morehouse College, Spelman’s counterpart for male students in Atlanta, ranked fourth.
Florida A&M University in Tallahassee came in at No. 13.
The “America’s Best Black Colleges” rankings were released on Thursday at www.usnews.com/blackcolleges, and will be available on newsstands beginning Monday, Oct. 1, in the magazine issue dated Oct. 8.
The 2008 edition of “America’s Best Black Colleges” marks the first time U.S.News & World Report has released a stand-alone ranking of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), as defined by the U.S. Department of Education.
These schools have been – and will continue to be – ranked within their appropriate categories in U.S. News’s annual “Best Colleges” issue, published annually in August, the magazine stated.
The “Best Black Colleges” issue is the latest extension of U.S.News & World Report’s expanding “Best” series which includes “America’s Best Colleges,” “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” “America’s Best Hospitals,” “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals,” “America’s Best Health Plans,” and “America’s Best Leaders.”
Additional “Best” issues are scheduled to launch later this fall.
“As historically black colleges and universities continue to play a vital role in today’s higher education landscape, we decided to create a specific ranking of them to allow apples-to-apples comparisons of these schools,” said Brian Kelly, editor of U.S.News & World Report. “This unique ranking offers for the first time an independent perspective on these institutions to help students and parents make an informed choice about one of life’s most important and expensive decisions.”
Included in this listing are any HBCUs as defined by the U.S. Department of Education that were also eligible for inclusion in U.S.News & World Report’s 2008 edition of “America’s Best Colleges.”
The ranking table lists numerically the schools in the top half of the 70 eligible to be ranked – 37 schools are listed, as four tied for 34th place. Those falling into the second half are listed alphabetically.
The “America’s Best Black Colleges” methodology closely resembles that of U.S.News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” rankings.
The schools are ranked using key industry standards for measuring higher education quality: peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving rates.
Earlier this year, U.S. News conducted its first-ever peer survey among only the HBCUs, asking head administrators to rate the scholarship and quality of all other black colleges with which they were familiar.
This method enables consumers to make an educated choice based on an unbiased, side-by-side comparison of institutions, the magazine stated.
Critics say the U.S. News college rankings warp college admissions and distract colleges from educating students.
But Kelly, the magazine’s editor, says students and their parents come to the magazine to make sense of all the data that is available on colleges.
A complete detailing of the methodology used for the HBCU survey can be found online at www.usnews.com/blackcolleges.
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2008 “America’s Best Black Colleges” Rankings
1. Spelman College • Atlanta, GA
2. Howard University • Washington, DC
3. Hampton University • Hampton, VA
4. Morehouse College • Atlanta, GA
5. Fisk University • Nashville, TN
6. Tuskegee University • Tuskegee, AL
7. Claflin University • Orangeburg, SC
8. Xavier University of Louisiana • New Orleans, LA
9. Dillard University • New Orleans, LA
10. Johnson C. Smith University • Charlotte, NC
11. Tennessee State University • Nashville, TN
12. Winston-Salem State University • Winston-Salem, NC
13. Florida A&M University • Tallahassee, FL
14. Morgan State University • Baltimore, MD
15. Virginia State University • Petersburg, VA
16. Bennett College • Greensboro, NC
16. Elizabeth City State University • Elizabeth City, NC
16. North Carolina Central University • Durham, NC
19. North Carolina A&T State University • Greensboro, NC
20. Tougaloo College • Tougaloo, MS
21. Alcorn State University • Alcorn State, MS
22. Clark Atlanta University • Atlanta, GA
22. Oakwood College • Huntsville, AL
22. South Carolina State University • Orangeburg, SC
22. University of Maryland Eastern Shore • Princess Anne, MD
26. Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University • Normal, AL
26. Albany State University • Albany, GA
26. Delaware State University • Dover, DE
26. Jackson State University • Jackson, MS
26. Kentucky State University • Frankfort, KY
26. Stillman College • Tuscaloosa, AL
32. Lincoln University • Lincoln University, PA
32. Mississippi Valley State University • Itta Bena, MS
34. Bluefield State College • Bluefield, WV
34. Fayetteville State University • Fayetteville, NC
34. Miles College • Birmingham, AL
34. Norfolk State University • Norfolk, VA
Source: U.S.News & World Report
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Comments from the folks at the Daytona Beach News Journal regarding FAMU....
No comments are necessary from the FAMU side as U.S. News could not find two graduate level programs at BCC to justify a "U."
B-CU misses top ranking but still measures up
By MARK HARPER, Education Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- For the first time, U.S.News & World Report has ranked historically black colleges and universities, and Bethune-Cookman University is relegated to the second tier.
Out of 70 schools rated by the magazine, B-CU failed to make the top 37 in the upper group. Alumni giving and its acceptance of students with lower college entrance exam scores were factors that lowered the school's ranking, while other categories were in line with the top tier.
Students, alumni and friends gathering in Daytona Beach for this weekend's homecoming will be "shocked," one school official predicted.
"It is surprising," said Willis Walter, vice president for institutional research, planning and accreditation. "In most of the categories, we rank very high -- if not at the top."
Bethune-Cookman's percentage of returning freshmen (73) is better than the average of the top tier. Its student-faculty ratio (17-1) and other measures also compared favorably.
Even the university's relatively low percentage of alumni donors (7 percent) doesn't appear to be that much lower than the majority of the top-tier schools.
Bethune-Cookman officials say the school has increased its alumni giving rate by 63 percent since 2005-06, the time frame upon which the rankings are based.
Another factor that hurt the university's rating was student selectivity, which accounts for 15 percent of the rating.
The university's mission, though, is to provide access to higher education for students who are not necessarily academic all-stars in high school, but who have shown the potential to become leaders, Walter said.
"If we had excluded more students, we would get more (rating) points," he said.
One of Bethune-Cookman's fiercest rivals, Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, was rated 13th despite revelations of financial and accreditation problems in recent years.
"It kind of makes U.S.News look silly," Bethune-Cookman spokeswoman Catherine Kershaw said.
A U.S.News & World Report editor did not return a call for this report.
Brian Kelly, editor of U.S.News & World Report, said in a news release: "This unique ranking offers for the first time an independent perspective on these institutions to help students and parents make an informed choice about one of life's most important and expensive decisions."
The magazine's ratings will be posted today at: www.usnews.com/blackcolleges.
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