ASU online graduate education program ranks 25th in nation
Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College jumped from the top 50 to the top 25 of the nation’s best online graduate education programs in the 2014 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
The “Best Online Graduate Education Program Rankings” showed Teachers College’s six online graduate programs ranking 25th nationally among a total of 226 public and private universities assigned a numerical rank and score. Additionally, ASU had the top-ranked online graduate education program in Arizona and among Pac-12 schools.
Teachers College offers ASU graduate students the following online master’s programs:
• Master of Education – Curriculum and Instruction: Applied Behavior Analysis
• Master of Education – Curriculum and Instruction: Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Master of Education – Curriculum and Instruction: Early Childhood Education
• Master of Arts – Curriculum and Instruction: English as a Second Language (ESL)
• Master of Education – Curriculum and Instruction: Gifted Education
• Master of Education – Educational Leadership
According to U.S. News, for the first time, its 2014 rankings incorporated ratings of online graduate education programs by peer institutions: “Industry opinion accounts for intangible factors on program quality not captured by statistics,” the report noted. “Also, degrees with strong perceptions of quality among academics may be held in higher regard among employers.”
Mari Koerner, dean of ASU’s Teachers College, said changes in how U.S. News arrived at its 2014 findings made her school’s leap forward 24 positions in the list of ranked colleges all the more meaningful. The online graduate education programs this year were ranked on student engagement, student services and technology, faculty credentials and training, admissions selectivity and peer reputation.
“The expanding reach of our online programs is boosting our efforts to raise the bar for teaching, research and innovation,” she explained. “But perhaps most gratifying in this report is being recognized by our peer institutions for contributions to the education field that benefit us all.”
Last year, Teachers College ranked 49th among 190 public and private universities included in the rankings of best online graduate education programs by U.S. News.