In 2011, "U.S. News & World Report" ranked Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education (peabody.vanderbilt.edu) in Nashville, Tennessee, the No. 1 school for education in the country. Five years previous, Vanderbilt was ranked No. 5, and it has been climbing the ranks to No. 1 ever since. Vanderbilt offers specialized areas of study such as Reading Education, Behavior Analysis, Organizational Leadership and Human Development Counseling.
Harvard University (harvard.edu) was ranked No. 2 in the nation for its education program in 2011. The program focuses on teaching, educational policy and educational research. Students can earn graduate master's degrees in one year's time and study specialized areas of education like brain and education and international education policy. Furthermore, Harvard University offers a variety of online resources, like WIDE world, which assist teachers in the nation's most struggling schools.
Ranked No. 3 by "U.S. News & World Report" in 2011, the University of Texas at Austin (utexas.edu) offers one of the best education majors in the country. Students of education take on a variety of careers ranging from educators to movement scientists. In addition, the University of Texas at Austin offers seven additional departments within the department of education including Foreign Language, Curriculum and Instruction and Kinesiology and Health Education.
Located in California, Stanford University (stanford.edu) was ranked No. 4 in the nation for its education program in 2011. Students of education are given many opportunities to put their learned knowledge and pedagogy to use in a real classroom via the university's Knowledge at Work program. Students are also given the opportunity to get involved with charter schools operated by Stanford University. Many student organizations also focus on furthering knowledge related to education, such as the Language, Equity and Education Policy Working Group and SchoolsOUT, a group that investigates homosexual issues in education.
Teacher's College (tc.columbia.edu) is a New York institution that is affiliated with Columbia University. In 2011, it was ranked No. 5 in the nation's best education programs. Approximately 70 percent of education students student teach in New York City and are placed as full-time teachers in New York City's public schools. In addition, Teacher's College at Columbia University offers many research projects and educational policy work.