During her time at the University, special education graduate student Jessica Swain-Bradway designed an intervention curriculum for high schools dealing with at-risk students. She did her initial research at a Eugene public high school, but now several schools in the area want to adopt the curriculum, she said.
The real-world impact and applicability of Swain-Bradway’s research is an example of why the University’s College of Education was recently ranked fourth nationally for graduate schools of education by U.S. News and World Report, students and professors said.
The ranking makes the College of Education the highest ranked public university in the country. In addition, the special education program at the University was ranked third in the same survey.
“In the special education area, the University of Oregon has been a powerhouse since the 1970s,” department head for special education and clinical studies Ken Merrill said.
Robert Morse, director of data research at U.S. News, said the University received slightly lower scores when peers assessed its education program, but received very high scores in admissions, faculty performance, and particularly research.
“They made up for their relative weakness in peer reviews with other areas,” Morse said.
Swain-Bradway said it is possible the University received lower scores from peers because it is not as well known as other schools nationally.
“The people I’ve worked with are very, very humble,” she said, and added that there is a greater emphasis on helping schools and teachers than getting articles published.
Joe Stevens, dean of academic affairs for the College of Education, said he considers the college the best in the Northwest in every discipline. It is, in fact, the second-ranked college of education in the Pacific-10 Conference, coming in one place above the University of California at Los Angeles. Only Stanford ranked higher, at No. 2 in the nation.
While the College of Education is currently producing research and has more than 1,200 enrolled students, it still must face the impending budget cuts the rest of the University must deal with during the next two years.
Stevens said he hopes the budget cuts have very little impact and said the college administrators are trying to make sure of it. The college operates on a budget with only 12 percent state funding, so he hopes to make very few changes in the next two years.
In addition, deep cuts to the program would result in poor planning, he said. “As the economy improves in the next year or so, we want to be poised to grow,” he said.
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