2008 Woodie Awards
Neag Grad School Ranked 21st In Country
Christopher Duray
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: News
UConn's Neag School of Education reclaimed the rank of 21st best graduate school of education in the U.S., according to the latest review in US News and World Report. The Neag School was also ranked the No. 12 public university for education in the nation and No. 1 in the northeast.
The Neag School previously held the 21st rank in 2006, but dropped to 31 in 2007. According to Neag Dean Richard Schwab, the fall came after a clerical error misrepresented the GRE test results of the school.
The US News and World Report judges 278 different private and public schools for its review. According to their Web site, the top education graduate school is currently Stanford University.
The Neag School is currently the highest-rated UConn graduate program, but the UConn pharmacy, social work and law schools all ranked within the top 50 of their respective fields.
"I'm very proud of the accomplishment of our staff and students," Schwab said. "This is a good place to be and we don't take anything for granted; I hope that we can keep moving in a positive direction."
"When I started this job 11 years ago, we weren't even in the top 50," he said.
Schwab did not think any one aspect of his school's efforts in the last year was the reason for the improvement, but he praised the combined work of the students and facility.
"It's a combination of all the little things going on and improving that adds up to our rise in the ranking," he said.
He also praised the UConn administration for their help in promoting the school.
"The president, provost and board of trustees all realize that education is an important vocation to support," he said. "Even if it's not a cutting edge science like cloning, or some new technological advancement, or even a new economic theory, they know that improving our schools is an important issue."
He was also thankful in their work to interest outside donors in investing in the education school.
Schwab was excited about the prospect of new projects to propel the Neag School into the top 20, and eventually, the top 10. In particular, he was proud of the school's efforts to close the achievement gap between poorly-funded schools and their better-funded counterparts. He said that in the future, the school would be working closely to try to help turn these schools around.
However, he admitted that moving forward would be a challenge.
"There's some tough company for us to break up there," he said. "We're competing with the Stanfords and the Harvards of the world. Even if we do a better job than them, people tend to assume from their names that they're a cut above."
Contact Christopher Duray at Christopher.Duray@UConn.edu.
The Neag School previously held the 21st rank in 2006, but dropped to 31 in 2007. According to Neag Dean Richard Schwab, the fall came after a clerical error misrepresented the GRE test results of the school.
The US News and World Report judges 278 different private and public schools for its review. According to their Web site, the top education graduate school is currently Stanford University.
The Neag School is currently the highest-rated UConn graduate program, but the UConn pharmacy, social work and law schools all ranked within the top 50 of their respective fields.
"I'm very proud of the accomplishment of our staff and students," Schwab said. "This is a good place to be and we don't take anything for granted; I hope that we can keep moving in a positive direction."
"When I started this job 11 years ago, we weren't even in the top 50," he said.
Schwab did not think any one aspect of his school's efforts in the last year was the reason for the improvement, but he praised the combined work of the students and facility.
"It's a combination of all the little things going on and improving that adds up to our rise in the ranking," he said.
He also praised the UConn administration for their help in promoting the school.
"The president, provost and board of trustees all realize that education is an important vocation to support," he said. "Even if it's not a cutting edge science like cloning, or some new technological advancement, or even a new economic theory, they know that improving our schools is an important issue."
He was also thankful in their work to interest outside donors in investing in the education school.
Schwab was excited about the prospect of new projects to propel the Neag School into the top 20, and eventually, the top 10. In particular, he was proud of the school's efforts to close the achievement gap between poorly-funded schools and their better-funded counterparts. He said that in the future, the school would be working closely to try to help turn these schools around.
However, he admitted that moving forward would be a challenge.
"There's some tough company for us to break up there," he said. "We're competing with the Stanfords and the Harvards of the world. Even if we do a better job than them, people tend to assume from their names that they're a cut above."
Contact Christopher Duray at Christopher.Duray@UConn.edu.
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