The Warner School came into being as the University of Rochester’s College of Education in 1958, at the same time that the University established professional schools of engineering and business administration. It was a time in history when our nation was searching for fresh ways to improve its education system and, in the process, guarantee American strength in the global arena.

The College’s early responsibilities were for the training of school teachers and administrators and for the academic education of nurses. It also offered opportunities for practicing teachers to enhance their professional skills and knowledge and partnered with area public schools as advisors in research. And in 1959, the College began the work of preparing leaders through a doctorate program in education.

During the 1960s, the College emerged as a curricular innovator and a pacesetter in the applications of technology to teaching and learning. In a partnership with Cornell, Syracuse, and Buffalo supported by the Ford Foundation, it became a center for programmed instruction and learner-centered education.

To reflect a shift in focus as well as an increased emphasis on basic and interdisciplinary research, the College changed its name to the Graduate School of Education and Human Development in the 1970s. During these years, the School stopped offering an undergraduate degree in education, though continued to serve undergraduates through courses and certification programs. It also initiated a Ph.D. program to complement its Ed.D. program.

During the 1980s, the School began to forge the creative collaborations for which it has earned a national reputation. Within the University of Rochester, the School established closer links with the then College of Arts and Science and the College of Engineering and Applied Science to develop its Master of Arts in Teaching programs. With practitioners in the local educational community, Warner faculty launched a tradition of testing educational theory against day-to-day classroom realities.

In the early 1990s, the School was renamed to honor Margaret Warner Scandling, an advocate for educational reform who came to appreciate Rochester's vital role among the nation's education schools when she served as a University trustee. William Scandling, Margaret's husband, generously endowed the School in her memory to strengthen its research programs, to increase its ability to support more graduate students of distinction, and to recruit more top-notch faculty. Warner graduates quickly gained a reputation for reinvigorating a system urgently in need of reform.

As the nation faces the challenges of the 21st century, the Warner School continues to define what leadership means and to set national standards. We are guided by our founding mission: to nurture in each generation of educators a passion for justice and understanding, and an ability to use the tools of critical thinking to improve education at all levels and for all learners.

We have expanded our commitment to the ongoing development of educating professionals and the thoughtful reform of our nation’s educational institutions through the establishment of the Warner Center for Professional Development and Education Reform.

The Warner School has established a reputation across a broad spectrum of programs at the master's and doctoral levels, for challenging educators to push the limits of the profession and to expand the frontiers of knowledge.