UCLA'S GRADUATE SCHOOL of Education & Information Studies is among the leading centers in the nation training the next generation of education and information-studies leaders. Founded a decade ago through the merger of the schools of Education (launched in 1939 as the first professional school on campus) and Library and Information Science (created in 1958), GSE&IS has established UCLA as the only major research university in the country to combine these two areas into a single, cohesive unit. Together, the two departments embody the school's commitment to understand and improve educational practice, information policy and information systems in a diverse society.

UCLA's education department — ranked No. 3 in 2004 among all public and private universities nationwide by U.S. News & World Report — is known as a leader in the study of student testing and assessment, teacher education and professional development. The Department of Information Studies is nationally recognized for its research in digital archives and libraries, multimedia databases and the social implications of the Internet.

"Our school has a very special character to it — one I'm very proud of, and one that I take great pleasure in supporting and promoting," says Dean Aimée Dorr.

The school comprises about 900 graduate students, 70 tenure-track faculty, 30 non-tenure faculty and 550 staff. It hosts two dozen research centers, institutes and programs. Among them:

Center for the Study of Evaluation & National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
Pioneer developer of scientifically based evaluation and testing techniques in education.

Center X
Provides pre-service and in-service professional education for K-12 and community college teachers and seeks to radically improve urban schooling.

Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School
The country's only university-based pre-kindergarten-through-sixth-grade laboratory school.

Institute for Democracy, Education & Access
Works to make high-quality public schooling and successful college participation routine in low-income neighborhoods of color.

Principal Leadership Institute
Rigorous, 15-month program leading to a master's degree, with service or instructional credentials.

— Anne Burke

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