The long anticipated rollout of the U.S. Department of Education’s rating system for colleges and universities has been nixed.

According to Chronicle.com, the department will instead create a website that will have “more data than ever before.”

A website geared towards rating different higher education institutions was bound to face criticism. Leaders at the department likely heard the cries against the new system and decided against moving forward with it.

The Chronicle’s article basically states that the department decided against the ratings website because far too many lawmakers and university and college heads were against it.

“But Ms. Studley [Deputy Under Secretary of Education] said the department had now decided to proceed with this different tactic because “we really heard what people want is the customizable approach.””

The new site is still in production and will not be released until later this summer. No further information was provided as to what type of data will be included and how visitors may customize their selections.

While it is good that the government will roll out a website that will give more information on higher education, I’m not sure if a ratings system was the best way to broach the idea of accountability.

Giving parents and potential students as much information as possible so that these individuals may make the best decision for their educational experience is a great idea. That decision may have been poisoned by providing a ratings system that would be viewed as biased. Colleges do need higher levels of accountability, especially given the amount of debt students take on to attend, so hopefully this is a step in that right direction.