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May 13, 2024

Centering Students in Our Draft Framework for the Carnegie Social and Economic Mobility Classification

Life-saving research. World-shaping cultural exchange. A shared sense of civic participation. Creating pathways for adults to gain new skills. Equipping local employers with a ready workforce. The contributions colleges and universities make to American life are as varied as the institutions themselves. But from the smallest community college to the largest public university, one shared mission stands above the rest: particularly …

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April 22, 2024

Early Insights from Our Work to Design a New Social and Economic Mobility Classification

College and university leaders, faculty, funders, and policymakers routinely and rightly cite social and economic mobility as a core goal. Unfortunately, existing data and analyses often fail to account for the distinct missions, unique student populations, and complex operating environments of institutions. These gaps make it difficult for higher education leaders and stakeholders to understand how effectively schools are leveling the …

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February 1, 2024

Rethinking Higher Education Classifications For Today’s Institutions

By: Alison Griffin This piece originally posted on Forbes on January 27, 2024. My 16-year-old son has a piece of paper, thumbtacked to his bedroom wall: a list of about 30 colleges and universities, carefully ordered alongside checkmarks and crosshatches. Upon first glance, the list wouldn’t make much sense to anyone, but perhaps another teenager. The way in which he has grouped colleges …

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How Carnegie Classification Updates Could Affect State Higher Education Policy

By: Mushtaq Gunja and Sara Gast This piece originally posted on Education Commission of the States on January 27, 2024. Since 1973, the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education has served as the predominant framework to classify American colleges and universities. It was originally created for researchers as a way of organizing the higher education sector, but since the release over 50 …

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December 14, 2023

Reimagining the Elective Classifications

By Marisol Morales As part of the broader efforts to reimagine the Carnegie Classifications announced in 2022, the Universal and Elective Classifications were also brought together in the same organizational home at the American Council on Education to help further show the breadth and range of the missions and purposes of American higher education. That transition has also prompted the exploration …

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