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2024 Best Early Childhood Education Bachelor's Degree Schools

341 Colleges in the United States
13,917 Bachelor's Degrees
If you pursue a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #32 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 341 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for early childhood education students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 13,917 bachelor's degrees in early childhood education to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Early Childhood Education School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Early Childhood Education Bachelor's Degree Schools The child development bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for early childhood education students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Early Childhood Education Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Child development Rankings Other Ranking Categories

The child development school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Early Childhood Education Bachelor's Degree Schools.

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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Early Childhood Education in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. 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 for a Bachelor's in Child development

1
24 Annual Graduates

The College of New Jersey is a great option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. TCNJ is a medium-sized public college located in the large suburb of Ewing.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from The College of New Jersey

2
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
15 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. UIUC is a very large public university located in the city of Champaign.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
126 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat University of Georgia if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. UGA is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Athens.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Georgia

4
11 Annual Graduates

Indiana University - Bloomington is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Indiana University - Bloomington

5
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
35 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Las Vegas, UNLV is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Nevada - Las Vegas

6
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
32 Annual Graduates

UNI is a moderately-sized public university located in the small city of Cedar Falls.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Northern Iowa

7
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
22 Annual Graduates

NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from New York University

8
17 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Bellingham, WWU is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Western Washington University

9
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
44 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Delaware

10
5 Annual Graduates

Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Loyola University Chicago

11
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
217 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of West Chester, WCUPA is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from West Chester University of Pennsylvania

12
17 Annual Graduates

CWU is a medium-sized public university located in the distant town of Ellensburg.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Central Washington University

13
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
10 Annual Graduates

NAU is a very large public university located in the city of Flagstaff.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Northern Arizona University

14
116 Annual Graduates

UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the city of Seattle.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

15
Towson crest
Towson University
Towson, MD
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
70 Annual Graduates

Towson is a fairly large public university located in the city of Towson.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Towson University

16
Graduate Certificate Highest Degree Type
22 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Purdue University - Main Campus

17
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
22 Annual Graduates

UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

18
24 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Provo, BYU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Brigham Young University - Provo

19
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
90 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Orlando, UCF is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Central Florida

20
Clemson crest
Clemson University
Clemson, SC
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
26 Annual Graduates

Clemson is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Clemson.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Clemson University

21
115 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

22
66 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Arizona State University - Tempe

23
24 Annual Graduates

Iowa State is a very large public university located in the city of Ames.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from Iowa State University

24
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
17 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Honolulu, UH Manoa is a public university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Hawaii at Manoa

25
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
60 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Dayton, UDayton is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in early childhood education from University of Dayton

Rest of the Top Best Early Childhood Education Bachelor's Degree Schools

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27
28
29
30
31
32

33

34
DePaul crest
DePaul University
Chicago, IL
35
Brooklyn College crest
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn, NY
36
37
38
39
40
41

42

43
44
KU crest
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS
45
Rowan crest
Rowan University
Glassboro, NJ
46
47
48
Auburn crest
Auburn University
Auburn, AL
49
50

Additional Award Winners

This list shows the rest of the schools awarded a Best Early Childhood Education Bachelor's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the college was ranked in the top 15% of the 341 different United States early childhood education schools we analyzed.

Rank College Location
50 Western Governors University Salt Lake City, UT
51 Hunter College New York, NY

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Early Childhood Education Bachelor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
52 Concordia University, Nebraska Seward, NE
53 Martin Luther College New Ulm, MN
54 William Paterson University of New Jersey Wayne, NJ
55 San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA
56 Boston University Boston, MA
57 Louisiana Tech University Ruston, LA
58 Salisbury University Salisbury, MD
59 Winona State University Winona, MN
60 Wichita State University Wichita, KS
61 Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL
62 California State University - Northridge Northridge, CA
63 Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX
64 Concordia University, Chicago River Forest, IL
65 Widener University Chester, PA
66 Mercer University Macon, GA
67 Northeastern Illinois University Chicago, IL
68 Ohio University - Athens Campus Athens, OH

Early Childhood Education by Region

View the Best Early Childhood Education Bachelor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Early Childhood Education is one of 13 different types of Teacher Education Grade Specific programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Elementary Education 30,802
Secondary Education 3,547
Junior High/Intermediate/Middle School Education & Teaching 2,324
Teacher Education 1,991
Kindergarten/Preschool Education & Teaching 864
Teacher Development & Methodology 169
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Educational Methods 37
Montessori Teacher Education 9
Adult & Continuing Education 4

Notes and References

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