COE ranking jumps 18 spots to 34th in U.S., four programs cited
After a brief downturn, UF’s College of Education has reclaimed its long-held spot in the Top 50 national rankings of America’s best graduate schools, which were announced March 13 by U.S. News and World Report.
UF’s 106-year-old education college didn’t merely crack the Top 50 benchmark—it obliterated it, climbing 18 spots to No. 34 among 238 education schools participating in the survey. UF is Florida’s highest ranked education school. The College of Education ranked 24th nationally among education schools at public institutions and was the top-ranked public education college in the Southeastern Conference.
Four UF education specialty programs also were nationally ranked:
— SPECIAL EDUCATION (4th)
— STUDENT COUNSELING/PERSONNEL SERVICES (9th)
— ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (18th)
— CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION (19th)
The college had ranked between 52nd and 54th over the past four years before this year’s turnaround. Those years marked a decline from its traditional Top 50 ranking that coincided with severe budget reductions in Florida’s higher-education budget as mandated by the state legislature. The COE consistently ranked in the Top 35 in the first half-decade of this century, rising as high as 24th in 2005.
“We don’t live or die by the rankings, but it is gratifying when the news involves a jump of 18 spots in the rankings. Improvement of this magnitude is quite rare,” said UF education dean Glenn Good. “It’s indicative of the extraordinary and inspiring work of our faculty and staff during a time of declining state support, and they earned this good news.”
Good, in his first year as UF’s education dean, also credited his predecessor, Catherine Emihovich, who served as dean from 2002-2011, including the survey assessment period for the latest U.S. News rankings.
Along with good, old-fashioned hard work by faculty, staff and students, Good attributed the exceptional turnaround to several factors, including substantial spikes in externally funded research grants and in increased doctoral student selectivity. Funded research and GRE scores are two variables considered in the U.S. News rankings.
Funded research in the College of Education increased by 15 percent overall (to $14.8 million) from 2010 to 2011, and rose by 28 percent (to $212,000) per faculty member over the same period. Mean verbal and quantitative GRE scores of doctoral students entering in fall of 2011 climbed an average of 83 points per section.
Good also noted the improvement in how the nation’s school district superintendents rated the college’s program quality (improving from 3.6 to 3.9 on a 5.0 scale). He attributed the improvement to the college’s commitment to partnering with school districts and communities to advance school improvement, student achievement and teacher professional development.
“We have a lot to be proud of at the University of Florida and we will continue to improve our programs in the future,” Good said.
CONTACTS
SOURCE: Glenn Good, Dean, UF College of Education, 352-273-4135; ggood @ufl.edu
WRITER: Larry Lansford, director, news & communications, UF College of Education, 352-273-4137; llansford@coe.ufl.edu
