2024 Best Early Childhood Education Schools
486
Colleges in the United States
32,920
Child development Degrees Awarded
Ranked #34 in popularity,
early childhood education is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 486 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for early childhood education students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 32,920 degrees in early childhood education during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings
Choosing a Great Early Childhood Education School
Your choice of early childhood 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 early childhood education schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Pick Your Early Childhood Education Degree Level
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 Early Childhood Education Schools list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Read more about College Factual's methodology.
Best Schools for Early Childhood Education in the United States
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the child development degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools in Child development
Doctor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
9th
Most Popular In NY
38
Child development Degrees Awarded
Every student pursuing a degree in early childhood education has to take a look at Teachers College at Columbia University. Located in the large city of New York, Teachers College is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #12 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Teachers College is a great university overall.
There were approximately 38 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Teachers College in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Teachers College at Columbia University
Any student who is interested in early childhood education needs to take a look at The College of New Jersey. Located in the large suburb of Ewing, TCNJ is a public college with a moderately-sized student population. This college ranks 5th out of 44 colleges for overall quality in the state of New Jersey.
There were approximately 24 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at TCNJ in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from The College of New Jersey
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a wonderful option for students pursuing a degree in early childhood education. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 16 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
7th
Most Popular In IN
Indiana University - Bloomington is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in early childhood education. IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Bloomington. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were roughly 11 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Indiana University - Bloomington
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
1st
Most Popular In GA
170
Child development Degrees Awarded
Located in the midsize city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #72 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.
There were roughly 170 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Georgia
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
10th
Most Popular In NY
31
Child development Degrees Awarded
Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #27 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.
There were about 31 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at NYU in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from New York University
WWU is a fairly large public university located in the city of Bellingham. This university ranks 5th out of 51 schools for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were about 17 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at WWU in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Western Washington University
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
23rd
Most Popular In IL
Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 4th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 5 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Chicago in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Loyola University Chicago
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
16th
Most Popular In WA
Located in the distant town of Ellensburg, CWU is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 7th out of 51 colleges for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were roughly 17 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at CWU in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Central Washington University
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
4th
Most Popular In MN
33
Child development Degrees Awarded
Located in the city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #51 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UMN Twin Cities is a great university overall.
There were roughly 33 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UMN Twin Cities in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
1st
Most Popular In DE
49
Child development Degrees Awarded
UD is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Newark. This university ranks 1st out of 4 colleges for overall quality in the state of Delaware.
There were about 49 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UD in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Delaware
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
1st
Most Popular In PA
233
Child development Degrees Awarded
WCUPA is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of West Chester. This university ranks 15th out of 109 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were about 233 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at WCUPA in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
1st
Most Popular In WA
116
Child development Degrees Awarded
Located in the large city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #37 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UW Seattle is a great university overall.
There were roughly 116 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Purdue is a very large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were roughly 23 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Purdue University - Main Campus
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
2nd
Most Popular In IA
33
Child development Degrees Awarded
Located in the small city of Cedar Falls, UNI is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 4th out of 40 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were roughly 33 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UNI in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Northern Iowa
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
2nd
Most Popular In UT
BYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Provo. A Best Colleges rank of #100 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means BYU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 24 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at BYU in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Brigham Young University - Provo
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
1st
Most Popular In MD
96
Child development Degrees Awarded
Located in the city of Towson, Towson is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 6th out of 36 schools for overall quality in the state of Maryland.
There were roughly 96 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Towson in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Towson University
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
1st
Most Popular In NC
115
Child development Degrees Awarded
UNC Chapel Hill is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chapel Hill. A Best Colleges rank of #43 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UNC Chapel Hill is a great university overall.
There were approximately 115 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
3rd
Most Popular In AZ
66
Child development Degrees Awarded
ASU - Tempe is a fairly large public university located in the city of Tempe. This university ranks 2nd out of 26 colleges for overall quality in the state of Arizona.
There were about 66 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Arizona State University - Tempe
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
3rd
Most Popular In IA
Located in the small city of Ames, Iowa State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #75 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Iowa State is a great university overall.
There were about 24 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Iowa State in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Iowa State University
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
3rd
Most Popular In FL
103
Child development Degrees Awarded
UCF is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Orlando. This university ranks 7th out of 77 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were about 103 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UCF in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Central Florida
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
2nd
Most Popular In IL
94
Child development Degrees Awarded
Located in the midsize suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 8th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 94 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Illinois State in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Illinois State University
Bachelor's Degree
Highest Degree Type
3rd
Most Popular In UT
Located in the city of Logan, USU is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 5th out of 13 colleges for overall quality in the state of Utah.
There were approximately 21 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at USU in the most recent year we have data available.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Utah State University
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
5th
Most Popular In SC
35
Child development Degrees Awarded
Located in the suburb of Clemson, Clemson is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #107 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Clemson is a great university overall.
There were about 35 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Clemson in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from Clemson University
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
5th
Most Popular In OH
71
Child development Degrees Awarded
UDayton is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Dayton. This university ranks 6th out of 96 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were about 71 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UDayton in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Dayton