The UNC School of Education was ranked No. 25 in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate programs in education.
The publication ranked eight of the School’s programs as being among the best in their fields, making Carolina one of only 13 universities in the country to have eight or more programs ranked among the nine education “specialty areas.”
“These latest rankings demonstrate again the breadth of the quality of the work being done at the School of Education,” said Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, dean of the School. “Throughout our School, we have scholars who contribute leading research on education’s toughest problems, while they’re also preparing the next generation of educational researchers, and school teachers, principals, counselors, and psychologists. The work of the faculty and their leadership is reflected in these rankings.”
Among public universities, the School of Education was ranked No. 15. The School also remained the No. 1 school of education in North Carolina.
The School has risen dramatically in U.S. News & World Report rankings during the past five years, rising 10 places during that span and landing in the top 25 last year.
Also during that span, the School has conducted an ambitious faculty-recruitment campaign, hiring two dozen scholars, bolstering programs in education policy, educational leadership, educational psychology, human development and family studies, learning sciences, educator preparation, school counseling, and school psychology, among others.
The School also has made investments aimed at deepening its research enterprise. Research expenditures have grown more than 150% during the past five years, reaching the School’s highest-ever level.
The rankings also reflect the School’s esteem among the educational professionals who hire the School’s graduates. On a one-to-five scale, school superintendents and other professionals rated Carolina at 4.1, the seventh-highest rating among all schools and colleges of education.
Following are the eight School specialty programs ranked, with their overall ranking and their rankings among public schools of education. (All programs were tied with other programs at their ranks, with the exception of elementary teacher education.)
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• Special Education — No. 13 (No. 12 among publics)
• Educational Psychology — No. 14 (No. 11 among publics)
• Student Counseling — No. 15 (No. 12 among publics)
• Secondary Teacher Education — No. 18 (No. 14 among publics)
• Elementary Teacher Education — No. 19 (No. 15 among publics)
• Education Policy — No. 22 (No. 14 among publics)
• Educational Administration/Supervision — No. 22 (No. 17 among publics)
• Curriculum and Instruction — No. 25 (No. 19 among publics)
The rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s “2022 Best Graduate Schools” guide are intended to reflect the impact schools of education have in teaching and research. The report ranks schools of education based on quality assessments from peer institutions and school superintendents, faculty research activity, student selectivity, and faculty resources.
For the rankings of schools of education, U.S. News & World Report surveyed 438 schools that grant doctoral degrees in education, with 277 schools responding to the survey.
The full U.S. News & World Report rankings are available at usnews.com.