Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College grad programs ranked 12th in nation

March 29, 2022
Meghan Krein

Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College placed No. 12 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate Schools of Education rankings among 279 universities that participated in the rankings survey. Among public universities, the college was ranked No. 5, ahead of the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Texas-Austin and the University of Virginia.

As one of the few colleges of education in the country that excels at both teacher preparation and world-class scholarly research, MLFTC consistently ranks first in education-related funded research. ASU reported a total of $73.5 million in funded research related to education, earning it the No. 1 spot in the survey.

With 4,833 students enrolled in graduate programs in 2021, the college reported the largest enrollment among all universities ranked.

“Rankings don't tell the whole story,” said Carole Basile, dean of Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. “But they do tell a story. If a school consistently knocks on the door of the U.S. News top 10 while explicitly rejecting the culture of selectivity and exclusion that has so distorted higher ed, it's probably doing something right. And it's probably doing the things that matter most right.”

The rankings identified the following graduate specialty programs as among the top in the nation:

No. 11 – Best Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction Programs.
No. 12 – Best Master’s in Elementary Education Programs.
No. 12 – Best Master’s in Special Education Programs.
No. 15 – Best Master’s in Educational Administration Programs.
No. 17 – Best Master’s in Secondary Education Programs.
No. 25 – Best Master’s in Education Policy Programs.

The college placed No. 11 in curriculum and instruction for its degrees in early childhood education and gifted education, which are both offered fully online. Degrees in autism spectrum disorders, applied behavior analysis, special education and teacher certification earned the college the No. 12 ranking in special education, while the Master of Education in Elementary Education and Master of Education in Elementary Education (Teacher Certification) ranked No. 12 elementary education programs.

The college is ranked No. 8 in the U.S. News ranking of online education programs, making it one of only four universities ranked in the top 15 in both the overall graduate rankings and the online master’s degree rankings (joined by the University of Georgia, the University of Virginia and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

The college now offers its graduate-level teacher preparation programs in two online formats. Arizona residents can choose between either the asynchronous format delivered via ASU Online or a synchronous format delivered via ASU Sync. Students who reside outside Arizona can take classes asynchronously. In both modalities, students complete professional residencies in-person in schools near where they live.

“It’s important for us to be excellent, and it’s important for us to be accessible,” Basile said. “Accessibility means we pride ourselves on whom we include. It also means we continue to work hard to design our curricula and our formats in ways that make our programs accessible to as many learners as possible so they, in turn, can help strengthen as many communities as possible.

"By putting our outstanding graduate-level teacher-prep programs online, for instance, we have made it easier for school (human resource) managers who have been forced to hire people on emergency or temporary certification to consider sending those educators to us so they can complete their preparation.”