<p>Point of clarification on yours, hoedown, MSU is widely considered superior to Michigan, UCLA & Penn State as a whole (undergrad & grad) school in the field of education. </p>
<p>That you're solely relying on USN&WR, which is simply a popularity contest affected by the "halo effect" (programs unfairly boosted in popularity by the reputation and or quality of a school's other programs), highlights the intrinsic problems with the evaluation to begin with, and why I didn't even mention it, even though MSU rates well with them. US News says its "rating" of grad school programs (which is where you got info from) is strictly based on "reputation." That is, a survey was sent out to deans of the schools being rated -- education in this case -- in order to rate these schools. How scientific is that? The fact has been shown again and again that many far-off educators answering these surveys who know little of Michigan, will knee-jerk rate U-M higher based on its overall reputation. Moreover, the fact that, even US News rates MSU's grad schools of primary and secondary education as #1, respectively, and has done so for the last 10 or so years, ought to tell you something. I mean, in terms of a college or school of education, what really else is there? Aren't not these two programs the core of any school of education? And the fact that, even beyond these programs, the "worst" MSU rates in Admin/supervision any area was #10 in Administration/supervision. I dont buy the whole is lesser than the sum of its parts theory because I know (and a lot of educators know) how flawed US News ratings system is (ie, its goal was and is to sell more USN&WR magazines: mission accomplished). I have a friend who teaches at Michigan and she readily admits that MSU is tops in education in the state of Michigan; that U-M's ed program is clearly "halo-ed" by US News. </p>
<p>Eastern Michigan is a fine program, and Eastern, founded 1849, is the oldest teacher training institution in the nation. But the orientations of MSU and EMU are different. EMU's goal is to turn out quality, practically trained teachers for the state of Michigan, whereas MSU's goal, as a national research university, is that of EMUs, plus education research.-- there are several federally-funded research institutes on MSU's campus: including the National Center for Research on Teaching and the research center for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study MSU researchers administered this widely acclaimed international study which noted that USA student's are falling behind other industrial nations in math and science. And MSU's education college was the one that altered the structure of education colleges across the country: moving from a 4-year curriculum emphasizing general studies the 1st few years and a practicum, the last, to requiring prospective teachers to first earn a 4-year liberal arts degree plus one additional year, often in a master's specialized study focusing on the more practical aspects of teaching.</p>
<p>US News aside, there's no doubt in the minds of most any person in the field of education that MSU is among the elite -- top 5 at least -- schools of education in the country.</p>
<p>Here are the 2006 US News numbers for MSU's individual departments:</p>
<p>o Elementary Education #1 - best in the nation
(12th year)
o Secondary Education #1 - best in the nation
(12th year)
o Rehabilitation Counseling #1 (retained from 2003 rankings)
o Curriculum & Instruction #2
o Higher Education Administration #4
o Educational Psychology #5
o Educational Policy #9
o Administration/Supervision #10</p>
<hr>
<p>how MSU stacks up with the comparative schools in these fields:</p>
<p>Elementary Education
1. Michigan State University
2. University of Wisconsin-Madison
3. University of Georgia
4. Ohio State University
5. Teachers College-Columbia
6. Vanderbilt University
7. Indiana University</p>
<p>Secondary Education
1. Michigan State University
2. University of Wisconsin-Madison
3. Stanford University (CA)
4. Ohio State University
5. University of Georgia
6. Teachers College-Columbia
7. University of Virginia (Curry)</p>
<p>Rehabilitation Counseling
1. Michigan State University
2. University of Wisconsin-Madison
3. Southern Illinois University
3. University of Iowa
5. Boston University
5. George Washington University
5. Illinois Institute of Technology</p>
<p>Curriculum and Instruction
1. University of Wisconsin-Madison
2. Michigan State University
3. Teachers College-Columbia
4. University of Illinois-Urbana
5. Stanford University
6. Ohio State University</p>
<p>Higher Education Admin
1. University of Michigan
2. Pennsylvania State University
3. University of California-Los Angeles
4. Michigan State University
5. University of Southern California (Rossier)</p>
<p>Educational Psychology
1. University of Wisconsin-Madison
2. Stanford University
3. University of Michigan
4. University of Illinois-Urbana
5. Michigan State University
6. University of Maryland-College Park</p>
<p>Educational Policy
1. Harvard University
2. Stanford University
3. University of Wisconsin-Madison
4. Teachers College-Columbia
5. University of Michigan
6. Vanderbilt University
7. University of Pennsylvania
8. University of California-Berkeley
9. Michigan State University
10. Pennsylvania State University-University Park
10. University of California</p>
<p>Administration/Supervision
1. University of Wisconsin-Madison
2. Vanderbilt University
3. Harvard University
4. Stanford University
5. Pennsylvania State University
6. Ohio State University
7. University of Texas-Austin
8. Teachers College-Columbia
9. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
10. Michigan State University</p>