The arms race for rankings: Emory says student test data inflated for more than a decade
Update Friday evening: AJC reporter Laura Diamond is working on a story for Sunday on Emory and the rankings misinformation. If you are a parent, student or graduate and would be willing to talk with her, please call her at 404-526-7257 or email her. Thanks.
Emory’s announcement today that employees inflated student data to push the university up in the college rankings will spur a renewed debate on the arms race to dominate the “best” lists.
Emory President Jim Wagner said today that Emory has intentionally misreported data about its students to groups that rank colleges for more than a decade.
Emory is not the first college to acknowledge that student academic profiles were tweaked to enhance standings. The New York Times earlier this year reported several schools had acknowledged gaming the system. Iona College in New York admitted lying about test scores, graduation rates, freshman retention, student-faculty ratio and acceptance rates.
The Times reported that “Baylor University offered financial rewards to admitted students to retake the SAT in hopes of increasing its average score. Admissions directors say that some colleges delay admission of low-scoring students until January, excluding them from averages for the class admitted in September, while other colleges seek more applications to report a lower percentage of students accepted.
In January, Claremont McKenna in California announced that a top admissions officer had resigned after he confessed to inflating the average SAT scores for purposes of rising up the ranks in the revered U.S. News & World Report listing.
According to the AJC:
U.S. News & World Report, Peterson’s and others routinely list Emory as one of the nation’s top colleges. Students and families rely on these rankings when deciding where to apply and enroll. Emory officials said they have no way of knowing if the college was over-ranked.
“As an institution that challenges itself, in the words of our vision statement, to be ‘ethically engaged,’ Emory has not been well served by representatives of the university in this history of misreporting,” Wagner wrote in a letter to the university. “I am deeply disappointed. Indeed, anyone who cares about Emory’s reputation for excellence in all things must regret this news.”
Emory launched an investigation in May after John Latting, the new dean of admissions, discovered data discrepancies. The investigation found that Emory:
- Used admitted students’ SAT/ACT data instead of enrolled students since at least 2000. This overstated Emory’s test scores.
- May have excluded the scores of the bottom 10 percent of students when reporting SAT/ACT scores, GPAs, and other information. This practice was not followed after 2004.
- Overstated class rankings.
Two former admission deans and leadership in the Office of Institutional Research were aware of the misreporting, the investigation found. They no longer work at Emory, officials said. The investigation found nothing to indicate that anyone in the president’s, provost’s or dean’s offices knew data was being misreported or directed or coerced staff to do so.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
119 comments Add your comment
Fred ™
August 17th, 2012
3:59 pm
LOL Mr. Holmes, from your posts I KNOW you are a staff member in higher ed, probably fairly high up. Faculty DO present their special set of problems don’t they? I always loved the Indigo Girls description (coincidentally of an Emory professor):
I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper
And I was free.
Gerald
August 17th, 2012
4:09 pm
I did not attend Emory University, but know quite a few people who did, and have been impressed as an employer and acquaintance of their graduates. I do not in any way condone providing false information to enhance “ratings”, and all who did so or condoned those actions should be terminated immediately. However, let’s not get carried away and condemn the University and all associated with it without a lot more facts than we have now. It seems that the President is moving to address the issue as raised by the new Admissions personnel – so giving them a chance to address and correct the issues is in order.
Wooyeah
August 17th, 2012
4:33 pm
Re: “Cheating” with Data/Statistics — This problem is not only in education, but in several areas where cold numbers trump all other factors.
In K-12 education, jobs are on the line, if schools does not meet certain testing standards.
In not-for-profits, programs get cut or lose funding if they fall short of eligible enrollees.
In sales, people lose their livelihood if they do not hit projections.
In the investment community, poor performance means pullout by stakeholders, which can damage an organization’s finances and competitiveness.
We could go on and on with examples of this.
Cheating is absolutely wrong; but so is a culture where the ends have come to be more important than the means.
Bernie
August 17th, 2012
4:34 pm
I do not think this informaton really comes as a surprise to most of us. Especially in light of political and social enviroment that exists here in Georgia and around this Nation presently.
It seems we all have reached a level of tolerable and acceptable BS without really demanding of the true facts. As Mitt says “TRUST ME!”…Ann says, no need to see
our information, Mitt is “GOLDEN”. We say….”OK!”
Ronnie said ” Trust, But Verify! “
what_what
August 17th, 2012
4:37 pm
i encourage anyone interested in emory governance to read the amazing book “Waking Up Blind” by local author Dr Tom Harbin. It will forever change how you view the Emory administration.
BehindEnemyLines
August 17th, 2012
4:39 pm
The fun part is Googling to try to find the former Deans of Admission and figuring out where they are now. Took a little doing (since they appear to be in lower profile positions these days) but it was a mildly entertaining exercise.
Meanwhile, I’ll at least credit Wagner for going public and taking the (well-deserved) beating that will follow.
Tired of Emoriods
August 17th, 2012
4:41 pm
Mr. Holmes: You wrote: “What you describe bares precious little resemblance to what I see in the two universities where I’ve worked–which also happen to be Georgia’s two highest-ranked schools.” It should be “bears,” not “bares.”
what_what
August 17th, 2012
4:41 pm
bootney…..with all due respect you describe situations that occur (possibly) at institutions where the quote “academic politics are so viscous because the stakes are so low” applies. this does include emory of course. at many of the better universities in this country, its how many A pubs, how much service and how much grant money you’re bringing in. not petty politics.
Out by The Pond
August 17th, 2012
4:49 pm
The sad thong os that no matter high up the rankings Emory moved do to it’s false data, Emory is still the best we have to offer in Georgia. Sad. Sad. Sad
Not an alum
August 17th, 2012
4:54 pm
It’s been common knowledge for years that you can get a better education at Tech or even UGA (depending on the discipline). I didn’t go to any of them but if you move in academic circles you know what’s going on. When the colleges started taking the ultra left turn, their credibilty, quality of academics and desirability of graduates decline. Emory took the lead in political correctness years ago with UGA and Tech in tow. Emory hangs their hat on the diversity card which Tech has due to the prestige and demands of the Institute. UGA has sheer numbers and football (a priority in GA) to make it more competitive. If I pad 40K plus to attend that school I’d be standing on the president’s lawn with a pitchfork.
Jake
August 17th, 2012
5:08 pm
“It’s been common knowledge for years that you can get a better education at Tech or even UGA (depending on the discipline).”
Of course. Common knowledge among those who couldn’t get into Emory.
Eddie
August 17th, 2012
5:16 pm
It is sad that the “Liberal Elite” that are always telling us how to live are some of the most unethical and intolerant folks around. However, as an earlier person mentioned Emory’s reputation has been on the decline for a long time. I think everyone pretty much knew that except maybe the parents that laid out big bucks for that “Elite” education.
Prof
August 17th, 2012
5:16 pm
A couple of observations.
I’ve known of academic vendettas with the features that Bootney Farnsworth describes at 3:01 pm, but they’re for much more serious matters than poorly performing students. They usually involve something worthy of grudges, like an attempt to deny tenure or, conversely, to get rid of one’s chair. And they can occur at “the better universities” too.
BF has posted elsewhere about being one of the many faculty and staff recently laid off by Georgia Perimeter, so there probably is accuracy in some of the related details. Of course, that’s not Emory, the subject here.
“Mr.” Holmes must not be a tenured faculty member unless he’s an MFA.
northbeach Scott
August 17th, 2012
5:27 pm
So Maureen, you are suggesting the old Nazi adage that the Emory administrators were just following orders (implied) because they were under pressure? Wow, how did Nuremberg turn out for those scumbags?
I am pretty sure that following orders will get you hanged with the others. What a disgusting failure of leadership at Emory. I am now ashamed of my MBA. I will be happy to join any others in seeking some class-action remedy with Emory for tuition reimbursement for lying.
Saddened Emory Faculty member
August 17th, 2012
5:35 pm
While I am deeply ashamed of Emory’s deliberate distortion of statistics, I admire the administration’s decision to bring Jones Day on board. In his letter to everyone at Emory today, President Jim Wagner wrote: “I assure you that I and my colleagues on the cabinet are doing all that we can to see that nothing like this happens again, and that Emory lives up to its standards of excellence and integrity.” Let’s hope that this is not just administrator-speak, but a true commitment to a more honest future for the institution.
DataA
August 17th, 2012
5:42 pm
Emory—overpriced, overrated. Phony data to justify the obscene tution–a bunch of spin to make excuses. More of the same.
Always Skeptical
August 17th, 2012
5:43 pm
I’m glad that Wagner came clean, but if you believe that only 2 people were involved in this, you’re dreaming. It’s likely that the numbers were cooked after people senior to them provided wither direct or tacit approval that it was ok. Don’t believe for a second that only 2 people were involved.
Reliance upon these rankings by US News to determine anything about a college education is directly related to an American penchant for lazy consumerism. Next, check the law school and the business school numbers to make sure they add up as well. You’ll probably find the same problems I’ll bet that all of the schools on the US News list ranked between 15 and 25 all have some problems with their reported numbers. They’ve all been affected by the worst elements and practices of corporate America coming to roost at our nation’s colleges and universities.
Over the past 10 years there’s been a real culture shift at Emory as it has tried to seemingly “claw” its way to the top in rankings across all divisions. None of it has been for the best.
Solutions
August 17th, 2012
5:58 pm
All the top tier schools are fighting for the same students, those with SAT scores of 1400 and above on Verbal and Math, they represent the top 2% of all high school students each year. There are not enough to go around, so the lesser schools must make do with lower scoring students, but they do not want to admit it. It becomes a negative feedback loop, the lower the average SAT for the school, the fewer high scorers who apply and actually show up for registration. It is not the home environment that is the problem, that is just the excuse for failure. Too many distractions, tv, internet, games, the street. This will cost Emory a lot of high scoring students who would otherwise have applied. Soon we will have dumbed down America to third world status.
yagottabekiddingme
August 17th, 2012
6:17 pm
Emory’s actions are NOT alone; and precisely the reason I steer my students away from any “rankings”. They are completely meaningless in the college search, and lead to unnecessary pressure from parents on college-bound students to put certain schools on their application lists. Hooray for Emory!
Lee
August 17th, 2012
6:19 pm
Rankings, smankings My daughter just bought textbooks for the fall semester. That’s where the real fraud is.
Fred
August 17th, 2012
6:29 pm
@the other Fred, there is pressure and then there is pressure. While there may not have been any overt pressure to misreport those numbers (and I truly don’t think there was), I can assure you the rankings were and are closely followed not just by Emory but by all higher education institutions. The urge to help push your institution up in the rankings is very strong.
@Jane and others, you do realize this was self reported by Emory don’t you? If the desire was to hide this it would have been very easy to do so. Emory chose to report it publicly. If you didn’t read the letter from President Wagner or look at the on line reporting of this on the Emory web site, people lost their jobs over this. I feel pretty sure the University is taking this very, very seriously. They hired and outside law firm to independently investigate when the issues were first made know. To classify this as the same as the APS cheating scandal is patently unfair and incorrect. Systemic cheating vs a few employees in one office in not the same thing. What those Emory employees did was absolutely wrong and they were punished and Emory is standing up to take the consequences of it’s employees actions.
Proud teacher
August 17th, 2012
6:43 pm
Of course they are inflated. Don’t blame the teachers. They are victims of the unrealistic demands of the state and Feds to get the numbers up. Make AYP. Bad things happen if the numbers aren’t right!
Fred
August 17th, 2012
7:04 pm
Dang! I *hate* it when the fingers live a magic life all their own and don’t follow what the mind is thinking! [sigh] Please forgive the typos. I think the thoughts are clear if the typing is not.
Fred ™
August 17th, 2012
7:17 pm
@ Fake Fred: US News and World Report has already stated that they wouldn’t change their rankings based on this.
@Not an Alum (and several others): I can see by your comments that you really have zero knowledge of facts to back up your claims. All you seem to have is a vendetta against Emory. Just be honest and say so.
@what_what: There really aren’t that many Universities in the WORLD much less in the Country better than Emory. Is Emory Harvard? Hell no, but it sure as hell isn’t UGA either, not that UGA is a bad school. Emory does a fine job with grant money.
I wish there were more INFORMED comments here and less rhetoric. A problem was found and immediately dealt with and acknowledged. EMORY found this prolem. No one else did. They didn’t cover it up, they manned and womaned up and used full disclosure.
What else could they have done you silly people? To compare this to the APS cheating scandal is beyond ignorant.
catlady
August 17th, 2012
7:30 pm
So the IR folks did this? On whose direction?
Fred ™
August 17th, 2012
7:40 pm
catlady
August 17th, 2012
7:30 pm
So the IR folks did this? On whose direction?
++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was either George Bush’s or Barack Obama’s fault. It depends whether you are a rabid nutcase Democrat or rabid nutcase Republican as to which one you ultimately blame.
RGB
August 17th, 2012
8:04 pm
I always thought Emory grads were pompous eggheads. Their pomposity is unearned.
Solutions
August 17th, 2012
8:38 pm
RGB – So is the massive debt of the average Emory grad, it will follow them for the rest of their lives. The tuition was supposed to buy access to a school with high SAT scores, but the school lied. Grounds for damages? Maybe, I certainly hope so. I would luv to see the high and mighty pay for their crimes, especially the holier than thou crowd.
catlady
August 17th, 2012
8:38 pm
Fred: IR (Institutional Research) Hard to believe those folks would falsify data.
Byrnon
August 17th, 2012
8:45 pm
I see that lots of people are confusing this with inflated student grades. it was not student grades at Emory that were inflated. The inflation was in reporting that their incoming enrolled freshmen class had higher SAT scores, etc, than they really did. They said their incoming enrolled freshmen had such and such SAT scores, but really they were lower. That’s all.
This was done by TWO former deans of Admissions and ONE person in the office of Institutional Research. Not the whole university. The President found out about it, heads have rolled, it’s been investigated by an outside law firm, the info has been made public.
How can you all say this proves the whole system is broken, because three individuals were jerks?
Fred
August 17th, 2012
10:49 pm
@other Fred, I may be a lot of things but fake I am not. We’ve had this discussion before. I’ve been around on the AJC blogs for about as long as they have existed. Just because I normally am not on the ones you frequent doesn’t make me fake just as your “TM” doesn’t give you sole use of Fred.
Back to the topic at hand, thanks for the info about USN&WR. I had not yet had a chance to see that. It does appear that there are more than a few people that aren’t paying attention to what has been written nor have they bothered to check the available online resources. Sue Emory? Really? It seem that all too often that is the first response for some.
William Casey
August 18th, 2012
12:06 am
I’m with ALWAYS SKEPTICAL: Anyone who seriously uses these (or any other) rankings to choose a school is simply a lazy consumer. Doesn’t excuse dishonesty but confirms one of my Mom’s old maxims: “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
yagottabekiddingme
August 18th, 2012
8:39 am
Read this informative blog about the validity of college rankings by Peter Van Buskirk of “The Admissions Game”:
http://www.theadmissiongame.com/blog/archives/693
Another view
August 18th, 2012
9:04 am
Emory is just one of a few that have been caught. See U of I Champagne Urbana Law School.
catlady
August 18th, 2012
9:41 am
Amen, William Casey!
bu2
August 18th, 2012
11:58 am
Clemson did it as well. When Alabama and Auburn are way ahead in USNWR of everyone in the SEC but UGA, Vandy and UF, I have to wonder about them. But Emory is the highest ranking school I have seen being caught.
There’s no pressure on those people who falsified the data. To say so is just to excuse dishonesty. Noone’s job is on the line. They just lie as a recruiting tool.
Maureen-maybe the problem isn’t athletics as you rail against. Maybe its the flexible morals of the administrators in higher education.
Prof
August 18th, 2012
12:16 pm
Just as a follow-up to bu2’s last sentence here, I’ll make another observation to “Mr. Holmes,” the higher ed administrator who complained about the presumption of tenured faculty yesterday at 3:51 pm, and at 3:06 pm referred to “the two universities where I’ve worked–which also happen to be Georgia’s two highest-ranked schools.”
Those schools are highly ranked because of their faculty, not their administrators.
Mitch
August 18th, 2012
1:29 pm
kCrime follows the money. The money is in education. Most everyone will spit on the sidewalk of no one is looking. It is about character.
Learn to read.
August 18th, 2012
1:30 pm
“But Emory is the highest ranking school I have seen being caught.”
It wasn’t “caught.” Dean Latting, who just arrived at Emory from Johns Hopkins, noticed the discrepancies and self-reported them to the rankings companies. U.S. News has already stated that the revised data wouldn’t have changed Emory’s national ranking.
Fred ™
August 18th, 2012
4:42 pm
Fred
August 17th, 2012
10:49 pm
@other Fred, I may be a lot of things but fake I am not. We’ve had this discussion before. I’ve been around on the AJC blogs for about as long as they have existed.
++++++++++++++++++++++
Yes we HAVE had this conversation beforwe name poser. You have been on for “about’ in YOUR mind as these blogs have existed but not as long as they existed because then you would know when they first started you had to REGISTER and duplicate names weren’t allowed.
You deliberately use “Fred” to pose as me. You have done so for years. Why Maureen allows it I don;t know. You could go as Fred R or Fred B or any other Fred derivative you want but you DON’T because then you can’t fool others into thinking they are me.
We have had this discussion on other blogs not just here on the get schooled one. You are an asshat who deliberately poses as me. You enjoy it. There is no other reason that you do it. You know it’s wrong and false but as long as Maureen and Theresa and allow it, you will do it. Try that crap on Jay’s. He’ll warn you once and ban you. Maureen should do the same. I wouldn’t have to type that extra stuff for the TM except for you. Hell, if you were smart enough to know how to add the trade mark thingie you would because that’s the type of asshat you are.
Fred ™
August 18th, 2012
4:45 pm
catlady
August 17th, 2012
8:38 pm
Fred: IR (Institutional Research) Hard to believe those folks would falsify data.
++++++++++++++++++++
Did they falsify data or were they too lazy to check the data that was given to them. Was it not their job to verify the data?
Free paychecks is the concept right? No work just rubber stamp everything……..
no mas
August 18th, 2012
7:13 pm
My daughter is enjoying the headlines. She was accepted at Emory, but chose to attend a different school, where the classes are small and the professors are eager to mentor students.
She is tired of hearing from her friends who went to Emory that she made a mistake. Schadenfreude is alive in our house…
(BTW, it is one person’s opinion, but a friend of mine whose husband is in his last year of law at Emory told me he regrets not going to Georgia State for law school, since his friends there seem to be getting a better education and excellent access to internships and mentors. I have advised by daughter to give it some thought when she graduates.)
another comment
August 18th, 2012
9:09 pm
My former exectutive assistant and I found out over 10 years ago that the Emory Spine Center was playing with the numbers on their out comes of their Spinal Cases. We were both injured at work at the major federal employer next door. Emory Doctors would treat you for moths do their little experimental IDET’s on you. Give you pain pills. Even fill perscriptions for pain pills for months at a time without the doctor ever seeing you, tell you to just pick up the prescription. Then the sent me to the Surgion that they Consider their “God” of Back Surgery. He determines that I am not a candidated for back surgery at this time. So the original doctor, who did his litttle experimental IDET, and had been giving me pain pills without seing me for over 6 months, suddenly sends workmens comp that his IDET surgery was a success I just wanted to stay home with my children. I don’t think so, I have graduate degrees and loved my job. Another insurance policy sent me for a 2nd opinion to the Thrashers and Falcon’s Spine Doctors, he said” Your back has been F’d up by Emory, you have received bad medical care at Emory they have destroyed your disc. The only solution is to try and remove the disc and fuse your spine. At least 10 other Spine Surgions have agreed with this doctor. Who has made two attempts to try to undo the mess made at Emory. I am now 100% disablled.
Emory Spine group only reports favorable out comes to keep their numbers up. They make up excuses to say it is either in the patients head or the patient did this or that when the outcome isn’t in their favor. They didn’t realize, they gave my administrative assistant and my self basically the same line. I have met many other people over the past few years who have had the same thing happen.
Number fudging is common at Emory
lorenzo
August 19th, 2012
7:09 am
Emory is, at best, the 3rd best college in Georgia.
sloboffthestreet
August 19th, 2012
9:27 am
“They spent more time trying to fix the numbers, than they did trying to fix the problem,” said Cathy Henson, an advocate for education reform and former state Board of Education chair. “My frustration is that if you’re giving people phony data, then they don’t understand the magnitude, the urgency of the problem.”
That’s a quote from today’s article about Georgia public education manipulating high school dropout rates. Crap mo stank you say? Well bartell doo!
Pride and Joy
August 19th, 2012
9:32 am
Proud Teacher tells us not to blame teachers for inflated grades and cites pressure on teachers.
What I don’t understand is why teachers don’t fight the pressure en masse. Teachers often walk out and protest when their salaries are at stake so why not do the same for the pressure to inflate grades?
Where is the concern and indignation when lying about student performance?
Maybe it is because money is all that matters.
Hugo
August 19th, 2012
10:55 am
“…a friend of mine whose husband is in his last year of law at Emory told me he regrets not going to Georgia State for law school, since his friends there seem to be getting a better education and excellent access to internships and mentors.”
We’re talking about Emory College, not Emory Law. The fact is, both Emory’s and Georgia State’s law schools stink, unless you want to become an ambulance chaser. Biglaw does little recruiting at either place. Given the glut of unemployed attorneys these days, anyone enrolled in a law school outside the T-14 (possible the T-5) needs his head examined.
mildred siciliano
August 19th, 2012
1:47 pm
Some one needs to check Emory University hospitals mortality and morbidity rates.D ue to negligence,arrogance on some drs. parts, and out and out mistakes part of which is when the drs perform surgery and won’t admit they really do not know what they are doing. my husband had 3 heart surgeries eah one compounding the problem.We were finally advised by a non surgeon there to take my husband out of Emory to Chicago.We actually had to bring videos back from CHICAGO to teach these arrogant surgeons how to do the procedure correctly This was just one of many horrors my husband and son experienced at the hospital i.e a perforated colon following an unnecessary colonoscopy, a faulty needle stick to draw blood from son by a student EMT who left my son to find a doctor when he realized he had messed up and could not find one on thr ER for 10 minutes at which point my son passed out with blood gushing from his arm. I can not say how many other horror stories I have heard since these incident. Emory can not afford to allow these kinds of statistics to get out to the public.Its undeserved reputation would suffer and all those grants,private donations etc would dry up really fast. i truly worry about the damage they cause every day.Needless to say my family will go anywhere before stepping foot on Emory again
Woody
August 19th, 2012
1:49 pm
U.S. News sure hit upon a winning formula with its ‘top 20′ series of institutional reviews, plus rankings of the also-rans. Now this publication has institutions all over the country biting its nails waiting for the annual ratings to come out. I know Emory, continually 22 or 24 for a long, long, time, struggled, like a skinny 13-year-old, to pull its chin up to the bar to which much stronger institutions effortlessly got themselves. And Emory, a place that has historically struggled with its moral compass (follow its behavior during the desegregation struggle), is not a place where integrity was going to win the tug-of-war event with status. This is all very sad. But as in all life, it is never too late to begin a determined fresh start. It is not what we say, or think, but how we act in the real world that ultimately determines our reputation. I do hope, sincerely, that Emory can find its soul.
Progressive Humanist
August 19th, 2012
2:08 pm
Georgia State law school was recently ranked as the #1 best value in the nation. Its graduates get a quality education, readily find good jobs, and tend to be very successful in practice (a main criteria in the ranking). The school tends to focus more on practical application, as opposed to abstract legal theory like most other schools. And graduates tend to owe less in student loans than those of other schools.