Graduate education programs continue to inspire
“The college provided rigorous, high-caliber preparation for my career as a professor,” said Tracy Johnson, '21 PhD, Reading and Literacy in Early and Middle Childhood. “I learned, through both coursework and experience with my advisors and professors, what it means to be a scholar, to engage in critical work in both research and in teaching.”
Now an assistant professor of K-6 Literacy at the University of Indianapolis, Johnson said she has been successful in her first years. “I stepped into my current role with confidence in the skills I developed to meet the broad range of expectations that are part of a professor's role in higher education. And it’s thanks to the high-caliber education I received at The Ohio State University.”
With the unveiling of the “2025 Best Graduate Education Programs” by U.S. News and World Report, that high caliber of College of Education and Human Ecology programs is confirmed. Its overall ranking is now No. 21.
Out of the 255 colleges and schools ranked this year, this means the college’s overall ranking is in the top 8.24%.
Being No. 21 reflects an improvement of four places over last year’s overall ranking and an advancement of seven places since the rankings for academic year 2022.
Among public universities, the college now ranks No. 12, a leap ahead of five points over last year.
Within the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the college continues to rank at No. 5.
In Ohio, the college remains No. 1. This marks its status as foremost among the other Ohio graduate schools of education that appear in the rankings.
“For more than a century, the college has prepared high-quality professionals to excel in their fields,” said Dean Don Pope-Davis. “Our improvement in the rankings is thanks to our dedicated faculty and staff, who provide rigorous experience in all our programs. They bring excellence and innovation to classrooms, to research and to our outreach and engagement with the field. They attract high-quality students and ensure that graduates know how to use and continually update best practices throughout their careers.”
Seven specialty programs rank in top 10, two more rank No. 22
Peers hold the college’s specialty programs in high regard. They ranked seven of the college’s programs in the top 10 nationally this year, continuing last year’s trend. Two more were both ranked at No. 22 nationally.
Department of Teaching and Learning
- Curriculum and Instruction, No. 7
- Elementary Teacher Education, No. 8
- Secondary Teacher Education, No. 8
Department of Educational Studies
- Educational Administration, No. 6
- Student Counseling, No. 7
- Education Psychology, No. 9
- Higher Education Administration, No. 9
- Educational Policy, No. 22
- Special Education, No. 22
Antoinette Miranda, professor and chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning, said that her unit continues to excel, citing the consistently high rankings. “We are fortunate to have amazing and talented faculty and staff. Because of them, we attract top-notch students who are passionate and committed to teaching our future generation of young people. This combination attracts the highest quality faculty and staff when we recruit.”
Miranda emphasized several of the department’s program strengths. “We are committed to a comprehensive curriculum that includes a faculty advisor, staff advisor and program manager available to each student. We provide extended opportunities for supervised, hands-on experience culminating in a semester of student teaching with both a mentor teacher in the classroom and a supervising teacher on our staff.”
Faculty members in the department are actively involved in research. “This not only enhances their own knowledge, but also allows them to integrate cutting-edge research findings into their teaching,” Miranda said. “We all feel privileged to prepare the next generation of teachers and researchers.”
Teaching and learning student, alum, testify to program strengths
Collin Geddis will graduate this spring with an MEd in Primary P-5 Early Childhood/Elementary Education. When not student teaching, he works as a substitute teacher for the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio.
“The program’s curriculum offered diverse perspectives sourced from course readings and discussions,” he said, “which supplied a theoretical foundation to form my personal teaching philosophy and identity as a teacher.”
Geddis put his learning into action during student teaching in a kindergarten classroom in South-Western City Schools. “The faculty keenly understand the challenges and triumphs that come with being an elementary educator,” he said. “They provided us with a wide variety of tools and strategies to support students’ holistic development. They also emphasized the culture of the students and the communities that our teaching is embedded in. They grounded us with a humanizing pedagogy that honors the identities and needs of all students.”
Geddis praised the guidance provided by his mentor educator at the school and his teaching supervisor with the university. “They have been instrumental, providing me with practical feedback regarding both classroom management and instruction delivery that I have incorporated in my teaching practice.”
Another strength of the college’s teacher education programs is that students enter and move through their courses with a cohort of like-minded peers. “The importance of the relationships I’ve built cannot be understated,” Geddis said. “We have developed a close bond through collaboration and dialogue that I am extremely grateful for. I know that throughout my career, I can reach out to these individuals for support and guidance, no matter where we end up.”
“As I prepare for the next phase of my career,” he said. “I do so with a strong sense of competence. They provided not only practice interviews and resume workshops, but also opportunities such as TeachOhio,” the annual K-12 career fair, “to network and interview with districts around central Ohio and beyond. I feel Ohio State has set me up for success in the field of teaching.”
Risa Haridza, who earned a doctorate in 2023 in STEM Education as a Fulbright Scholar, is now teaching science for the Department of Education in her native Indonesia. “Reflecting on my time as an alumna of the graduate program, I am deeply impressed by the strength of the faculty and all the different research opportunities they offered,” she said.
“The faculty’s dedication to excellence and their wealth of experience have been instrumental in shaping my understanding of educational theory and practice. By engaging in rigorous research projects, I gained valuable insights that have enabled me to bridge the gap between theory and practice in my research and teaching in Indonesia.”
“From developing innovative teaching methods to designing impactful curriculum frameworks, my experience as an alumna has equipped me with the necessary skills to make a meaningful difference in education. I am proud to have been part of such a dynamic and enriching program,” Haridza said.
Educational Administration Program, No. 6, prepares quality administrators
Karen Beard, associate professor of education administration and supervision and an alum of the program, said the faculty and staff have worked collaboratively to intentionally focus on the curriculum and flow of courses in the programs and the student experience.
“Most beneficial has been, first and foremost, the faculty,” she said. “We have a dedicated collective of scholars with experience as administration professionals in practice. We also have researchers steeped in their expertise representative of critical aspects of effective school and district leadership.”
“Our conversations have yielded thoughtful, data-driven program revisions informed both by experts in the field and the careful attention we pay to our graduate student experiences,” Beard said.
The department has built mechanisms to share how best to serve students in cohort model programs so they are supported by both caring faculty and peers.
“This has worked well to inform and monitor program strengths and needs as well as the student experience. ...We remain mindful in our recruitment and admissions efforts to ensure that we can deliver programming that will satisfy our students’ aspirations, in addition to meeting the needs of our communities. With a deliberate focus on lending our expertise to the student experience, everything else falls in alignment.”
