Today’s announcement of U.S. News & World Report’s annual graduate school rankings was met with celebration at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education. The school cracked the top 20 nationally – tying for 18^th place (and No. 10 among public schools) – representing a significant advance over the past decade, from No. 31 overall in 2007.

“This rise is due directly to the steadfast and focused efforts of our faculty and staff and the talent they bring to bear on their work,” Curry Dean Robert C. Pianta said. “Not only have we grown and innovated in academic programs, but throughout this period we have dedicated our efforts to securing sponsored support for our research. Our faculty’s success in obtaining highly competitive federal grants has led to a steadily growing portfolio of funded projects. This is truly extraordinary, accomplished over a period of considerable uncertainty in federal grant programs. 

“I am extremely proud of our faculty’s accomplishments and this recognition of our collective success.”

Curry also saw five of its programs ranked in the top 10 nationally: special education at No. 4, elementary education (No. 6), secondary education (No. 9), administration and supervision (No. 10) and education policy (tied for No. 10).

Curry’s rankings highlighted another strong showing by UVA’s graduate programs. Those ranked in the top 40 included:

• School of Law: No. 8 overall;
• Darden School of Business: No. 14 overall, No. 8 for management;
• School of Nursing: No. 19 for master’s programs, tied for No. 15 for Doctor of Nursing Practice, No. 2 for Clinical Nurse Leader and No. 7 for psychiatric and mental health across the lifespan;
• School of Medicine: No. 24 for primary care and No. 27 for research; and
• School of Engineering and Applied Science: No. 39 overall.

U.S. News also updated its rankings of several social science and humanities doctoral programs in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences – last ranked in 2013 – with six landing in the top 40:

• English: tied for No. 6 overall, and tied for No. 5 in American literature before 1865;
• Psychology: No. 17 overall;
• Corcoran Department of History: tied for No. 18 overall, and tied for No. 1 in U.S. colonial history;
• Economics: tied for No. 29 overall;
• Sociology: tied for No. 32 overall; and
• Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics: tied for No. 37 overall.

Each school’s overall rankings are based upon a mix of statistical measures and reputational surveys, while rankings of individual programs in specialty areas come solely from reputational surveys, as do the social sciences and humanities rankings, according to U.S. News.

The complete rankings can be viewed through the U.S. News website.