U.S. News and World Report rankings place School of Education in top 40
The William & Mary School of Education has been named the 39th best graduate school of education by the U.S. News & World Report in their 2020 Best Graduate Schools rankings released today.
In this year’s ranking, the school fared particularly well on ratings of quality as measured by a survey of deans from peer schools of education. William & Mary's score on this section of the ratings was higher than it has been in the past 20 years.
“Our strong reputation in the field is a testament to the tremendous work and significant reach of our faculty, students and alumni,” said Spencer Niles, dean of the School of Education. “They are tackling some of the thorniest issues in teaching, educational leadership and counseling, pursuing first-rate research, and then putting that knowledge to work in classrooms and clinics across the country.”
With 579 graduate students enrolled in 2018 and 48 faculty members, William & Mary is one of the smallest schools of education to be included in the top 50. “Our professors strike an excellent balance between expanding the reach of the school and maintaining the deep faculty-student connections that are a hallmark of the William & Mary experience,” said Niles.
Offering a wide range of degree programs, the school is committed to sustaining its personalized, high-touch approach to the student experience, while also evolving its programs to best meet the needs of today's learners. The school has expanded part-time and online options for working professionals, and in 2018 launched fully online master's degrees in counseling that mirror its nationally-recognized on-campus programs.
“Our small size allows us to be nimble, and our faculty are passionate about finding the very best ways to prepare our graduates to become leaders in their fields,” said Niles.
U.S. News uses a survey of K-12 and higher education administrators, as well as others who hire alumni of the school, to gauge the preparation and impact of recent graduates. Asked to rate the school on a scale of 1-5, these experts’ responses resulted in an average score of 4.2, up from 4.0 last year. On this section of the rankings, the school tied as 14th best among all schools of education.
The school also improved on measures of student selectivity, including the acceptance rate of applicants to doctoral programs and the mean GRE scores reported by applicants.
“It’s impossible to measure the collective impact of our community’s work in a single score,” said Niles. “But I am pleased to see the hard work of so many talented educators recognized in this year’s rankings.”
See the full 2020 Best Education Schools rankings.
The rankings, released every spring, take into account both data from the schools and opinions of experts in the field. Rankings are calculated based on 10 measures including quality assessment, student selectivity, faculty resources and research activities. Learn more about the ranking methodology.
