Pitt school ranks 31st nationally

Although our men’s and women’s basketball teams give the University quite a bit of bragging… Although our men’s and women’s basketball teams give the University quite a bit of bragging rights, other aspects of Pitt garner national attention for being the best at their games.

Like academics.

Pitt’s School of Education recently ranked number 31 on U.S. News ‘ World Report’s list of America’s best graduate schools of 2007 for education.

“We’re all a little ambivalent about rankings,” Louis Pingel, associate dean of student and academic affairs in the School of Education, said. “If you’re ranked well, you want people to know, but no ranking system is perfect.”

U.S. News ‘ World Report’s ranking system for graduate schools of education evaluates institutions based on their academics, opinions of school superintendents, admissions data, faculty, and research and funding.

While the magazine’s evaluation system translates quantitative data into the final rankings, only 60 percent of the information is objective fact, according to U.S. News ‘ World Report’s director of data research, Robert Morse. The other 40 percent of the data results from subjective findings from graduate school administrators and researchers who respond to detailed questionnaires to create the list.

“We’re not measuring teacher training, we’re supposed to be measuring education schools that produce research and scholars in the field,” Morse said.

Leading the list were Harvard University and Columbia University’s Teachers College, with fellow Pennsylvania schools Penn State University and University of Pennsylvania ranking at 29 and 7, respectively.

With about 1,300 students enrolled in Pitt’s School of Education, the acceptance rate for the doctoral program stands at 61.3 percent, while the other post-baccalaureate degree programs accept about 79 percent of applicants.

However, Pingel does pride the graduate school on the quality of its teacher certification programs and the amount of research that the faculty produces.

“I think Pitt’s teacher certification programs are unique to the area,” he said. “We try to get better all the time.”

The last major change in the School of Education came in the 1980s when it moved its teacher certification levels from an undergraduate level to the graduate level.

The School of Education certifies graduate students as teachers in its professional year and master of arts in teaching programs. Students can also pursue a master of education degree, an MA or MS on their way to becoming faculty in higher education, or the doctoral programs in education or philosophy.

The school’s strongest and most specialized graduate program focuses on special education, added Pingel, although the school divides its departments into the more general categories of psychology in education, instruction and learning, health and physical activity, and administrative and policy studies, each containing its own varied areas of expertise.