Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) ranks number seven in the nation, according to the new 2010 ranking of graduate schools of education by U.S.News & World Report. This is a jump from last year's number 12 ranking."I am of course pleased to see the rankings confirm what we see on the ground here, that SESP is a terrific school with superb faculty and students and a tremendous record of important, high impact research and extremely effective teaching and training," says Northwestern University Provost Daniel Linzer.
SESP posted the highest GRE scores of all graduate schools of education in the nation. Its doctoral students' verbal scores averaged 648, and their quantitative scores averaged 751. SESP is also distinguished by a high amount of funded research per faculty member and a low student/faculty ratio. Funded research totaled $11.5 million in 2008, an increase of $1.7 million over the previous year. Research funding averaged $441,300 per faculty member, making SESP sixth highest among the nation's graduate schools of education. The ratio for doctoral students to faculty members is 2.5:1, which is the school's best ratio in the past 10 years and the second best ratio among the top 10 schools.
Overall, SESP ranked seventh in the nation for the selectivity of its doctoral program. The program has a 14.6 percent acceptance rate.
For 2010 SESP received the highest overall score it has ever received, despite the fact that the school is the smallest of all the schools of education in the top 10. Larger schools are able to earn more points in categories such as total research dollars and number of doctorates granted.
The U.S. News ranking is also based on indicators including assessments by education school deans and school superintendents, GRE scores, selectivity, funded research and student/faculty ratio. The most weight is given to a quality assessment by education school and graduate school deans. SESP has ranked in the top 12 for the past nine years.
The top education schools for 2010, according to U.S. News, are as follows:
1. Vanderbilt University
2. Stanford University
3. Teacher's College, Columbia University
4. University of Oregon
5. University of California – Los Angeles
6. Harvard University
7. Johns Hopkins
7. Northwestern University
7. University of California – Berkeley
7. University of Texas
7. University of Wisconsin
Last Modified: 11/19/09