[ POSTURE ]

Why we don't rank

Trades Navigator publishes no composite scores, no rankings, no ratings, no “top schools,” no “best apprenticeships.” This is a deliberate legal posture, not a roadmap gap.

What this means

  • Not a rating agency.
  • Not a ranking service.
  • Not an accreditor.
  • Not a recommendation engine.
  • Not a referral broker.

Why it matters

A composite score about a school, program, or union shifts the truth-defense burden onto us. The moment we publish “XYZ is a top school,” we have to defend that opinion in court if XYZ's students sue them. We have one job: surface the public record, accurately, with a link to the source. Adding a number on top compromises that job.

When you see an adverse-signal banner on a school record (HCM1 status, ED denial, CSLB suspension), it is there because the federal or state record says so — not because we have judged the school. Source and date sit beside the value.

How each list is actually ordered

Every list TN renders has a documented sort rule. None of these rules is a quality judgment.

  • School records — by source provenance order (federal > state > aggregator), then alphabetical.
  • Apprenticeship finder — first 30 programs in source-file order from DOL RAPIDS / CareerOneStop. Not ordered by any quality measure.
  • Trades index (/explore) — alphabetical within taxonomic category.
  • Right-now dashboard cards — by application-window status (open windows first), then by date.
  • State hubs — alphabetical by trade name within each state.
  • Sources page — grouped by source quality (federal > state > aggregator), then alphabetical.
  • Stories — by persona age ascending (young apprentice → late-career exit).
  • Exit-planning topics — workflow timeline order (broad → narrow), not preference ranking.
  • Search box — keyword-match relevance on page titles only; never includes school, program, or employer attributes.

If you need a recommendation

Talk to your state licensing board, a journeyman in the trade, your union local, an attorney, or your accountant. We surface the public record so you can have those conversations with the facts in hand — we are not the conversation itself.

Read more on the methodology page or browse our data sources.