UF College of Education Demonstrates Enduring Leadership in U.S. News Rankings

#13 - Grad Education - Public Universities - College of Education - 2022

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Through a year unlike any other, with seemingly endless challenges, the UF College of Education has endured as a recognized leader in the field with expanding domain expertise. The college achieved a No. 13 ranking among public institutions in the U.S. News & World Report annual survey of America’s Best Graduate Education Schools, released Tuesday (March 30, 2021). Additionally, the college earned rankings in every applicable category among Specialty areas.

UF remains the top-ranked education college in the state and has solidified a standing in graduate education, with relatively unchanged rankings from the previous year—No. 13 among public education colleges and No. 24 among all, public and private, colleges of education.

“Maintaining strong rankings during an incredibly challenging year is testament to the dedication of our entire college community,” said College of Education Dean Glenn Good. “Additionally, for every academic program in the college that is ranked by U.S. News to achieve highly favorable rankings demonstrates the increasing recognition of UF’s expertise, positioning the college for continued success for years to come.”

These graduate rankings are preceded by a No. 1 ranking in Online Graduate Education from U.S. News earlier this year. UF has been in the top two in online education for the past six years, securing No. 1 in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021.

“Our expert faculty have worked closely with our instructional and media designers to continuously improve the online learning experience for our students,” said Jason Arnold, director of e-Learning, Technology and Communications. “During this challenging year, we have continued to use the most current research and frequent student feedback to refine instruction so that we truly prepare and empower the future leaders of education.”

UF continues to elevate its reputation among peers and to demonstrate academic leadership. This year, the college garnered rankings in every Specialty area open to the survey. Two academic programs earned top-five rankings — Counselor Education at No. 5 and Special Education moving up to No. 4.

Additional Specialty rankings include:

Elementary Teacher Education No. 13
Curriculum and Instruction No. 16
Secondary Teacher Education No. 16
Higher Education Administration No. 22
Education Administration and Supervision No. 26

#4 - Grad Education - Special Education - College of Education - 2022

#5 - Grad Education - Counselor Education - College of Education - 2022

#13 - Grad Education - Elementary Education - College of Education - 2022

#16 - Grad Education - Curriculum and Instruction - College of Education - 2022

#16 - Grad Education - Secondary Education - College of Education - 2022

#22 - Grad Education - Higher Education Administration - College of Education - 2022

#26 - Grad Education - Education Administration - College of Education - 2022

To establish the rankings, U.S. News & World Report surveyed 393 schools with 253 providing the necessary data to be included. Standings were determined based on 10 weighted quality measures under four key categories: quality assessment (40 percent), research activity (30 percent), student selectivity (18 percent) and faculty resources (12 percent).

Beyond rankings, momentum continues to build at the college. Guided by a unified vision to transform education, current initiatives are aimed at widely improving outcomes for all learners and enacting solutions for society’s most pressing issues.

Technology presents challenges and opportunities in education and beyond. Through the now forming Institute of Advanced Learning Technologies, UF researchers are working at the intersection of data mining, computational psychometrics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, to address existing and future implications in a variety of learning environments.

Other key areas of impact for the college are Early Learning, Student Success and Leadership. The confluence of these initiatives brings together contributors at all levels in transdisciplinary collaborations that result in positive, real-world impact.

“Reflecting on the past year, it is clear the college’s impact is not simply measured by our high rankings, our ambitious research agendas, or our talented faculty,” Good said. “Our true impact is achieved when we work together collaboratively to make the state and world better for everyone.”

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The faculty in the special education program at UF are committed to the prevention and intervention of learning and behavioral challenges across the lifespan. Our internationally-recognized faculty are committed educators, mentors, and researchers who have received numerous awards from professional organizations (e.g., Council for Exceptional Children) and external grants from federal and other entities (e.g., Institute for Education Sciences, Office of Special Education Programs). Their work will directly and indirectly influence equitable outcomes through effective teaching and leading for years to come.

Erica D. McCray, Ph.D.
Director & Associate Professor
School of Special Education, School Psychology, and Early Childhood Studies

Our faculty are incredible researchers whose interests and publications span a wide array of topics that are relevant to the counseling field. We are active in national organizations, serving in leadership roles, presenting at conferences, and serving on editorial boards. We are also all committed educators, constantly striving to better understand and meet the needs of our students and to equip them to be competent counselors and counselor educators. But perhaps our greatest asset is the quality of students we attract. They are incredibly bright, compassionate, and committed to becoming change agents in their communities. They challenge the program to be better, and inspire us with their passion. Our ranking is, I believe, as much about them as it is about us as faculty, and I feel honored to be able to teach and mentor them.

Hannah Bayne, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Counselor Education

The connection with and influence of our internationally-recognized faculty’s expertise in innovative areas of teacher preparation makes our program highly effective in preparing exceptional teacher candidates. We have a strong commitment to creating a program that fosters critical thinking, includes issues of equity and diversity, and emphasizes supporting the abilities of all learners. The program has robust and varied field experiences that put teacher candidates on the ground in schools and classrooms from their first semester in the program. In partnership with our public school district and Mentor Teachers, we offer extensive supervision and coaching for teacher candidates during their culminating internship.

Caitlin Gallingane, Ph.D. and Ashley MacSuga-Gage, Ph.D.
Associate Clinical Professor and Assistant Clinical Professor
Elementary Teacher Education

What makes our secondary program unique is the combination of interdisciplinary work and discipline-based methods course and practicum supervised by experts in their field. Students scan further enhance their content expertise through additional course work related to their discipline. As a result, our graduates are well-prepared to work in diverse contexts.

Ester de Jong, Ed.D.
Director, School of Teaching and Learning
Secondary Teacher Education

Our online EdD program, centering justice and equity, stands out because of the job-embedded nature of the program. Course assignments and dissertation experience directly connect to our students’ workplace, enabling them to positively impact the educational contexts within which they work.

Nancy Dana, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Teaching and Learning

The rankings are the recognition of the multiple strengths of the Higher Education Administration programs. We have an amazing, dedicated faculty who have developed an ever increasing national presence for cutting edge, impactful research; who distribute their research innovatively so that it not only impacts future research, but immediate practice; and who are dedicated to developing the next generation of leaders in higher education.

We provide well rounded programs that address the needs of a variety of learners in a variety of formats, whether that is the intensive research experience of our Ph.D. program, or the extensive theory to practice experience of our Ed.D program. Though the rankings are hard earned, the strongest evidence of our success is in our phenomenal alumni who are transformative leaders in the field, and remain dedicated to the program and the University of Florida long after earning their degrees.

Kelli Peck Parrott, Ph.D.
Clinical Professor and Program Leader for the Higher Education Administration and Policy programs

As a Top-Ten, Research 1 institution in the U.S., the University of Florida attracts quality faculty and students. Educational Administration and Supervision graduates consistently outperform their peers from other institutions in passing the state licensure exams for school leadership. Our graduates will tell you the experiences and learning opportunities in which they engaged as students have facilitated their reputation as change agents in the schools they lead.

Catherine G. Atria, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Educational Leadership Online M.Ed.

Graduates in the area of Educational Administration and Supervision represent the University of Florida in leadership positions throughout the nation. The reputation as a top quality program has been established by virtue of the outstanding faculty and the high achieving students accepted into the program.

Linda Eldridge, Ph.D.
Director, Educational Leadership Programs

Contacts

Source: Tom Dana, senior associate dean, UF College of Education, 352-273-4134

Source: Jason Arnold, director of e-learning, UF College of Education, 352-273-4442

Writer: Kevin Coulson, communications manager, UF College of Education, 352-273-4370

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