2024 Best Elementary Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region
114Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
5,552Elementary Teaching Degrees Awarded
Ranked #17 in popularity, elementary education is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 114 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Elementary Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,552 degrees in elementary education during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Your choice of elementary education school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for elementary education schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Elementary Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Elementary Education in the Great Lakes Region
The schools below may not offer all types of elementary teaching degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
17 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Elementary Teaching
It's difficult to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you wish to pursue a degree in elementary education. UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 83 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available.
Indiana University - Bloomington is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in elementary education. Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were approximately 106 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student pursuing a degree in elementary education has to look into Loyola University Chicago. Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #137 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Loyola Chicago is a great university overall.
There were roughly 30 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Chicago in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student who is interested in elementary education has to take a look at Purdue University - Main Campus. Located in the small city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were about 81 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available.
Illinois State is a very large public university located in the suburb of Normal. This university ranks 8th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 281 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at Illinois State in the most recent data year.
UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were approximately 21 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent data year.
UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were roughly 76 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available.
Ball State is a large public university located in the city of Muncie. This university ranks 6th out of 42 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were about 189 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at Ball State in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large suburb of Wheaton, Wheaton College Illinois is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 11th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 24 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at Wheaton College Illinois in the most recent data year.
DePaul is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #203 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means DePaul is a great university overall.
There were about 95 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at DePaul in the most recent data year.
Bradley is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Peoria. This university ranks 14th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 40 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at Bradley in the most recent data year.
Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 39 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available.
NLU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. This university ranks 17th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 155 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at NLU in the most recent data year.
Marquette is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Milwaukee. A Best Colleges rank of #130 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Marquette is a great university overall.
There were about 31 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at Marquette in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the small suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 24th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 93 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at NIU in the most recent year we have data available.
UW - La Crosse is a large public university located in the city of La Crosse. This university ranks 3rd out of 46 schools for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were roughly 118 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at UW - La Crosse in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #170 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Concordia University, Chicago is a great university overall.
There were approximately 30 elementary education students who graduated with this degree at Concordia University, Chicago in the most recent data year.
Here are some additional great schools for Elementary Education students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Elementary Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Vgrigas.
Your choice of elementary education school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for elementary education schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
