DALLAS (SMU) ̶ In six short years the SMU Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development has risen to the rank of 49 in the U.S. News & World Report national rankings. The annual report which ranks 272 participating public and private graduate schools of education around the country was released online on April 25.
The latest ranking represents a significant leap from 105 in 2019 and from 54 in last year’s report. It moves Simmons one spot higher among the top private graduate schools in the U.S. to number 11, up from 12 in the previous year’s report.
In the state, Simmons maintains the number one spot among private universities and is third among all colleges in Texas. Only University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M at College Station, both public universities, have a ranking higher than Simmons.
The school’s rankings have steadily climbed under the leadership of Leon Simmons Endowed Dean Stephanie L. Knight who joined SMU in 2017. She says dedicated research faculty members are significant factors in the school’s continued advancement. “External funding per faculty member is $369,200 which is up from the last report. In fact, funding has risen since 2019 when $143,700 per faculty member was reported. That means our researchers are doing meaningful work to improve education which is perhaps more important now than ever before in our country and world.”
To rank schools of education, U.S. News & World Report considers many factors including research activity, academic quality, faculty resources, student selectivity, doctoral degrees granted, as well as peer assessment scores.
Knight says Simmons will continue to strive for excellence. “We are thrilled to have jumped so significantly in this national ranking. We now continue to assess what we can do to improve learning through our research and will work diligently to further advance and build the reputation of SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.”