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2024 Best Early Childhood Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region

87 Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
4,486 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.

College Factual reviewed 87 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of early childhood education. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4,486 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

Best Early Childhood Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region 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

Associate Degrees in Child development
Bachelor's Degrees in Child development
Master's Degrees in Child development
Doctor's Degrees in Child development

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Early Childhood Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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 Great Lakes Region

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.

13 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Child development

1
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
15th Most Popular In IL
12.5% Growth in Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you want to pursue 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 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.

There were about 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

2
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
7th Most Popular In IN

Every student pursuing a degree in early childhood education needs to look into Indiana University - Bloomington. IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the 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 year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Indiana University - Bloomington

3
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
23rd Most Popular In IL

Loyola University Chicago is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in early childhood education. Located in the city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #137 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Loyola Chicago is a great university overall.

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

4
Graduate Certificate Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In IN
21.7% Growth in Graduates

Purdue University - Main Campus is a wonderful choice for students interested in a degree in early childhood education. 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 colleges nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.

There were approximately 23 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Purdue University - Main Campus

5
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 fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #231 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Illinois State is a great university overall.

There were about 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

6
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In OH
71 Child development Degrees Awarded

UDayton is a large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Dayton. A Best Colleges rank of #184 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UDayton is a great university overall.

There were approximately 71 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UDayton in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Dayton

7
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In IN
40 Child development Degrees Awarded

Located in the small city of Muncie, Ball State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #205 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Ball State is a great university overall.

There were approximately 40 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Ball State in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Ball State University

8
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In OH
97 Child development Degrees Awarded

Miami University - Oxford is a large public university located in the town of Oxford. A Best Colleges rank of #116 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Miami University - Oxford is a great university overall.

There were roughly 97 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Miami University - Oxford in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Miami University - Oxford

9
DePaul crest
DePaul University
Chicago, IL
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
8th Most Popular In IL
37 Child development Degrees Awarded

Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #203 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means DePaul is a great university overall.

There were approximately 37 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at DePaul in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from DePaul University

10
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
16th Most Popular In IL
38.5% Growth in Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Peoria, Bradley is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 14th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.

There were about 13 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Bradley in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Bradley University

11
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In OH
80 Child development Degrees Awarded

UC is a very large public university located in the large city of Cincinnati. A Best Colleges rank of #166 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UC is a great university overall.

There were approximately 80 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UC in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

12
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In IL
315 Child development Degrees Awarded

Located in the city of Chicago, NLU is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 17th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.

There were roughly 315 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at NLU in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from National Louis University

13
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
11th Most Popular In IL

Concordia University, Chicago is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of River Forest. A Best Colleges rank of #170 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Concordia University, Chicago is a great university overall.

There were approximately 25 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Concordia University, Chicago in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Concordia University, Chicago


 

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Early Childhood Education students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Early Childhood Education Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank College Location
14 Northeastern Illinois University Chicago, IL
15 Ohio University - Athens Campus Athens, OH
16 University of Wisconsin - Whitewater Whitewater, WI
17 Calvin University Grand Rapids, MI
18 Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI
19 Elmhurst University Elmhurst, IL
20 Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL
21 Saint Norbert College De Pere, WI

Best Early Childhood Education Colleges by State

Explore the best early childhood education colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Ohio 939 1,129
Michigan 915 486
Illinois 870 960
Indiana 737 548
Wisconsin 672 508

View All Rankings >

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

Majors Similar to Child development

Related Major Annual Graduates
Elementary Education 5,292
Secondary Education 1,288
Junior High/Intermediate/Middle School Education & Teaching 1,028
Teacher Development & Methodology 695
Kindergarten/Preschool Education & Teaching 694
Teacher Education 459
Adult & Continuing Education 79
Montessori Teacher Education 41
Online Educator/Online Teaching 23
International Teaching and Learning 1

View All Child development Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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