<p>“teaching programming” may not be in a lot of top schools’ priorities in CS. They’re too busy teaching theory, umpteen math and science classes, software engineering, design, testing, more theory, etc.</p>
<p>My experience from 30 years ago suggested out directional state gave assignments in CS that outright dwarfed those from several top schools where we had friends studying or teaching. It was not uncommon to write 7-8k LOC for a single semester class in operating systems, even more so in compiler class etc. I don’t think it did us any good rankings wise 
but the majority of people who got out were darned good coders, </p>
<p>Did they teach us how to be good coders? No, not really. They at least taught us to manage our time and go slow and steady… And not freak out. I would rephrase it to find schools where they assign serious programming assignments. You can find out by looking at class syllabi and see how much a project counts towards final grade. If its 10-20% there is a good chance they don’t care as much as a school where the same project counts for twice that. If you have a relative or friend who has gone thru CS he can do an eyeball comparison of syllabi and assignments. Do this for a few classes and you can get a feel for what the school cares about.</p>
<p>Times change, and by the time I got out the same monster projects were assigned in my school but done in teams of 3-4 kids versus 1. Do your homework…</p>