20 Best Early Childhood Education Masters Programs

To quote Tom Cruise in Risky Business: “Looks like the University of Illinois!” In that case, it was a fallback school when the Ivy League appeared out of reach, but Illinois is no consolation prize.

The university’s Master of Education in Early Childhood Education (birth through second grade) is a licensure program, as graduates qualify for Illinois’ early childhood license with an early childhood special education letter of approval. Illinois law requires people in teacher-preparation programs to pass the Illinois license test beforehand, so prospective U. of I. students need to have that first.

Speaking of requirements, the university needs a bachelor’s with a minimum 3.0 GPA, transcripts, personal statements, and letters of reference. The program entails 32 hours of coursework, with eight hours of foundations (in educational psychology, policy, organization, and leadership). It also includes a practicum at a preschool and a student-teaching course for up to 12 hours. (Students will need to pass the Test of Academic Proficiency in Illinois before that.)

Classes are available on campus and online. Taking them will set you back $15,829, a little more than average for our list.

The University of Florida’s Master of Arts in Education with Early Childhood emphasis isn’t for newbies. It’s designed for people already certified or eligible for certification in Early Childhood, or those who have completed coursework in the area. As the university says, it’s “not an initial teacher preparation program,” and it doesn’t lead to certification.

It is a 36-hour program focusing on birth through kindergarten with thesis or project options (30 in coursework, six in the thesis or project). Students complete it in five semesters, including a summer term, or roughly a year and a half. The College of Education provides a sample schedule, but students and their advisors design their own plan of study.

Coursework includes pillar classes like Early Childhood Curriculum, Instructional Methods for Young Children, and Families & Diversity in Early Childhood Studies. They’re buoyed by a practicum and seminar.

Applicants interested in the University of Florida’s program will need a resume, transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and GRE scores (a minimum of 147 in verbal and quantitative). The program begins during the fall semester only, and it costs $11,313, well below the average and median cost for the 20 best Master’s in Early Childhood Education.

Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff feels bullish on early childhood education. The university is about to offer a fourth concentration within it (multiage, beginning in fall 2020), atop the three already available (teacher, leadership, and National Board preparation). 

Describing its program as “technologically advanced, culturally responsive, and student-focused,” NAU’s Master of Education in early childhood education is a 30- to 31-hour degree, depending on concentration. The coursework emphasizes curriculum and instruction, educational foundations, and research, per NAU’s website.

Core classes account for 12-15 hours and include courses like Early Childhood Curriculum, Selected Topics in Early Childhood Development, and Development of Children’s Logical Concepts.

The concentration supplies the remaining 16-18, such as Foundations of Reading Instruction, Philosophy of Education, and a Fieldwork Experience course for teaching experience. The Board Preparation track has extra requirements related to the standards of the national education board.

Getting into the program requires an undergraduate degree with a minimum 3.0 GPA, transcripts, a teaching certificate, and a fingerprint clearance card from the State of Arizona. People opting for the Board track need three years of teaching experience. Everyone will need $12,320 per academic year.

Theory and Curriculum in Early Childhood Education. Organization and Management of Early Childhood Classrooms. Instructional Strategies for Early Childhood Education. Sociopolitical Perspectives on Assessment. Critical Studies in Educational Theory and Practice. These are some of the 12 classes that anchor the Master of Education in Early Childhood Education at the University of Georgia.

Designed for educators already certified in prekindergarten through fifth-grade teaching, the 36-hour program aims to create teacher-researchers with a wide skill set. Classes are convenient for teachers at UGA’s campus in Athens, and the curriculum offers them a chance to design and conduct research projects in their classrooms.

Through 18 hours of electives, students have the option to earn endorsements in ESOL, reading, gifted education, and preschool special education. The rest of the coursework is divided into two sections: nine hours of curriculum and teaching in Early Childhood Education and Educational Theory and Practice. 

For admission to UGA’s program, students need a bachelor’s degree with a 2.8 GPA or better and transcripts. People who have a 3.2 GPA or better get to skip the entrance exam.

The College of Education and Social Work at West Chester University in West Chester, PA, has a pie chart outlining its mission and vision. At the center are eight lavender pie slices with words like service, leadership, and teaching, which are ringed by a purple circle of student outcomes (lifelong learners, scholars, etc.) It all speaks to West Chester’s ambition.

The university offers two tracks within its Master’s in early childhood education: one for accomplished teachers (with a license) and one for program administrators (who have at least one year of professional experience).

Each requires 33 credit hours of coursework (all online), costs $20,091 per academic year, and shares the same 24 hours of core courses in topics like child development, families and multicultural communities, advocacy, current trends, and curriculum. 

The administrator’s track concludes with six hours of leadership and management courses, along with a capstone research course. The accomplished teacher’s track has the same capstone, along with six hours of teaching courses around special education, teaching and learning, literacy, or educational technology.

To enter West Chester’s program, applicants need a bachelor’s with a minimum 2.8 GPA, transcripts, two professional recommendations, and a statement of professional goals. 

While some Master’s programs are strictly for credentialed teachers, Mercer University is a little less exclusive. It’s Master of Arts in Teaching in Elementary Education is designed for recent college graduates, people switching careers, “paraprofessionals” with bachelor’s degrees, and teachers.

The program prepares all of them to teach kids from pre-K through fifth grade and earn state certification in Georgia.

Mercer builds its curriculum around theory and pedagogy, with research, assessment, and technology integration playing important roles. It also incorporates fieldwork, which accounts for three courses among the 37 credit hours for the degree. The school divides coursework into foundational, methods, and content area classes, along with field experiences.

Mercer admits students five times per year at its Atlanta campus and once a year at its location in Henry County. Classes are held one evening per week on a 16-week semester schedule. To get in, prospective students need a bachelor’s degree with a 2.5 GPA or better, transcripts, Georgia Assessment for the Certification of Educators scores, and a completion certificate for the Georgia Educators Ethics Assessment.

Located in Mobile, AL, the University of South Alabama offers three varieties of its Master of Education in early childhood education: a basic Master’s (online), an “alternative” Master of Education (for people who have a bachelor of science), and a Master’s with a reading certification (for experienced teachers, online).

After the program and additional Praxis testing, they’re all eligible for Class A certificates in early childhood education and reading for Alabama.

The coursework is divided into curriculum and teaching (15 hours), diversity (three hours), educational foundations (three hours), research and evaluation (three hours), and electives (six hours). Those are the minimum hour requirements; an actual study plan will differ based on the type of Master’s the student pursues. They share four core classes that cover curriculum, instructional planning, organizational patterns, and trends and practices in reading. 

Admission for them differs a bit, but all require an undergraduate degree with a 2.5 GPA or better and transcripts. Depending on the degree, the university will also require a valid teaching certificate, personal statement, background check, and two years of teaching experience. That’s a lot to remember, but affordability is hard to forget. USA costs $12,040.

The University of Toledo in Ohio has the usual stuff like a nickname (the Rockets), a fight song (“U of Toledo”), and school colors (blue and gold), but how many other universities have a favorite phrase? “See you at the game!” It’s not the most imaginative phrase in academia, but hey, it’s something.

Toledo offers online license options for its Master of Education in early childhood education, and coursework can be completed online and on-campus, along with fieldwork.

The 30-hour Master’s program is divided into 12 hours of core classes (curriculum, research, psychological, and social/philosophical foundations), 12 hours of specialization work, three hours of theory and research, and three hours of capstone. That can be writing a publishable manuscript, a research project, or a thesis. People pursuing a teaching license will need to complete additional credit hours.

Going for a license also affects admissions, as people pursuing one will need SAT, ACT, GRE, or Praxis scores, in addition to the usual stuff: a bachelor’s with a 2.7 GPA or better, a statement of purpose, and three letters of recommendation. Everyone will need to pay $16,598 per academic year. 

Like so many universities, Northwestern State University of Louisiana began as a teachers’ school in 1884. It became a college 60 years later, the only such school in Natchitoches, LA, a name you’re almost certainly mispronouncing as you read it. (It’s “nah-codish.”)

That makes the NSU’s School of Education the oldest part of the 130-year-old university, so it’s distinguished by default. Its Master of Education in Early Childhood Education is designed to help certified teachers build their skillset for working with kids from birth to 8.

For people who enjoy alphabet soup, NSU notes its curriculum is based on standards from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), which is recognized by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

The program itself comprises 12 courses covering curriculum development, educational research, child development, educational trends, ethics, learning space design, and curriculum. Students finish with an action research project for school improvement or a thesis. 

NSU keeps admission standards on the chill side: documentation of a teaching license, undergraduate transcripts, and two letters of recommendation. Also chill? The price. At $12,448, it’s the fifth cheapest among the 20 best Master’s in Early Childhood Education.

With a municipal-sounding name, perhaps it’s surprising that the University of Dayton is a private school, but the tuition leaves no mystery. At $36,718, it’s the most expensive program on our list. Dayton offers a Master of Science in education in early childhood leadership and advocacy.

Designed for “experienced early childhood professionals”—administrators, supervisors, teacher leaders, and the like—it offers two tracks: one for early childhood leadership and another for early childhood advocacy. It can be completed online or on campus. 

The coursework begins with nine hours of core classes, then 12 hours of general leadership core requirements (including a practicum internship). The specializations take over from there for 11-18 additional hours. The leadership courses include personnel management, regulations and licensing, managing finances and marketing, and a pair of labs.

The advocacy track studies transdisciplinary early childhood education, advocacy, and a lab for curriculum and instruction. Students in both tracks choose to finish with a thesis, an action research project, or a data training for teacher leaders course.

Besides some cash, applicants to the University of Dayton will need a bachelor’s with a 2.75 GPA or better, transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and a personal statement or résumé.

“Shaping the future, guided by grace,” is the headline on Biola University’s homepage. The school, located in the Southern California city of La Mirada, teaches “biblically centered academic offerings” for people looking to address the spiritual, as well as the corporeal.

The university describes its Master of Arts in education as research-oriented, emphasizing professional writing, research, and theory. Students tailor it to their interests via eight concentrations, including early childhood.

Offered fully online, it requires 38 credits, 15 of which come from the concentration. Concentration courses cover development, curriculum, working with families and communities in urban settings, classroom management, and observation and assessment.

Most of the courses require fieldwork, including a practicum that sends students into the field for 75 hours to “plan, implement, and evaluate developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant” practices for kids. Students finish with a thesis or research project. 

A private university, Biola is on the pricey end: $25,826. It also has stricter admission standards: a bachelor’s with a 3.0 GPA or better, transcripts, a certificate of clearance for fieldwork (for California residents) or fieldwork eligibility (non-residents), and a teaching license or “verification of equivalent professional experience,” per the university.

Towson University, located north of Baltimore, offers two options for its Master’s: a Master of Education or a Master of Arts, with the former being an advanced program for certified teachers. The Master of Arts program is designed for people who want to become teachers and earn their first teaching certificate. Both have thesis and non-thesis options.

The degree requires a minimum of 33 units. Thesis and non-thesis tracks share roughly 21 hours of required courses in diversity and inclusion, development, curriculum and technology, research, and more. Thesis folks have nine hours of electives and six for their thesis, while non-thesis people have 12 hours of electives.

Non-thesis students must complete a capstone course to develop a “creative and interdisciplinary statement of their professional identity.” All students create a professional portfolio before completing the program.

Before entering the program, prospective students need a bachelor’s degree with a minimum 3.0 GPA, transcripts, résumé, two letters of recommendation, a two-page admission essay, and field experience. They also need one of the following: teacher certification, an undergraduate degree or coursework in early childhood education, or three years of professional experience. Phew. Tuition costs $12,636.

The University of North Texas in Denton wants to make the process of earning a Master of Science in early childhood education as speedy as possible. Via its Accelerated Online Program format, courses are offered in eight-week sessions with five start dates throughout the year, and students can wrap up their degree within a calendar year (or up to two years). And because it’s all online, they don’t even need to visit Denton to do it. 

The 30-hour program teaches students to “learn to critically examine the nature of early childhood classrooms, centers, and schools in order to re-examine what it means to teach and care for young children.” The curriculum is composed of 10 courses touching on research strategies, curriculum theory, assessment, leadership, literacy, teaching in a multicultural society, child development, educational statistics, and more.

Students have access to services like the Graduate Student Writing Support Office to assist with writing, and the university’s Toulouse Graduate School can assist with job searches, preparing a résumé, and that kind of thing. To get in, applicants need transcripts, three letters of reference, a résumé, and a personal essay. UNT is also cheap: $14,000, well below the average and median.

While numerous programs in our 20 best Master’s in early childhood education are designed for veteran teachers, the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities is all about the newbies. Intended for students who want to earn their first Minnesota teaching license, it has no prerequisite courses.

U. of M. bases its curriculum on developmental theory, which emphasizes understanding individual learners, working with diverse learners, incorporating a variety of educational strategies, offering inclusive programming, working with families, and creating a positive classroom community.

The 57- to 61-credit program mixes major and methods courses (such as classes that focus on teaching one subject), along with two student teaching experiences—one in an early childhood classroom and one in lower elementary. It culminates with a capstone project where students devise ways to improve teaching methods for early childhood education.

Prospective students will need unofficial transcripts (with an undergrad GPA of 2.8 or better), a personal statement, a résumé, and two letters of recommendation. They’ll also need warm clothes and lots of them, so they should tack on a few hundred bucks to the $11,382 cost to stock up.

Many early childhood education programs include courses about diversity and socioeconomics, but the University of South Florida proclaims that its Master’s focuses on social justice and advocacy. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t an entry-level Master’s; it offers no certification and is intended for experienced teachers. But it has an entry-level price: $11,500.

The program is available on campus in Tampa Bay, online, or a hybrid of the two, and all courses take place in the evening. The 33-plus hour curriculum is divided into process core (foundations of research and education), program core (development, historical foundations, socioeconomic foundations), content specialization (research, diversity, play and learning), and electives. 

The 12 hours of electives provide the opportunity for a focus, which USF offers in reading, teacher leadership, positive behavior support, or interdisciplinary studies. The program wraps up with a comprehensive exam that’s actually a six-week assignment of two 15-page papers. Fun!

Because USF’s program is intended for experienced teachers, its degree requirements are a little stricter: a bachelor’s in early childhood education or something similar or a regular bachelor’s and experience in early childhood education. (Both need a minimum 3.0 GPA.) The rest is typical: résumé, statement of purpose, and two letters of recommendation.

Queens College, part of the City University of New York, offers a Master of Arts in Teaching in early childhood education, which focuses on kids from birth to second grade. It also focuses on affordability.

The 36-credit program is geared toward people who don’t yet have a teaching certificate. The coursework covers all the basics—pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment—with two mandatory field placements for student teaching.

People gunning for additional certification in childhood education or bilingual education can earn those via an additional semester of coursework. Throughout the process, students assemble a digital teaching portfolio assessing their experiences in the field and in their studies.

New students begin in the fall semester, with classes in the late afternoon or evening. Admission requirements differ from other programs. Yes, you need the GRE and a bachelor’s degree with a 3.0 GPA, but that degree needs no fewer than 30 credits of liberal arts or sciences.

You also need two sequential years of study in a foreign language, along with writing samples provided on-site. The university also says you may be asked to participate in focus groups. Well, you still can’t beat the price.

Cal State Fullerton offers a Master of Science in Education degree, and within that is a concentration on elementary curriculum and instruction. Within that is an emphasis on Early Childhood Education, so Cal State takes first place for the longest degree title.

The university designs its curriculum around a few core concepts: equity, educational technology integration, and what it calls the 4 Cs (critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration). The program uses a cohort model to encourage “collaboration, problem-solving, and the development of skills” to prepare teachers for leadership positions. 

The actual curriculum is composed of 30 units: nine in core coursework (learning and curriculum theory), nine in early childhood (teaching particular subjects), six of curriculum-oriented coursework (subject-oriented classes in math, science, social studies, etc.), three of electives, and three in a capstone of thesis, research project, or a culminating project (a curriculum research proposal and project). 

Prospective students interested in Cal State Fullerton will need a bachelor’s with a minimum 3.0 GPA, a teacher credential (equivalent experience will be considered), and transcripts. And who says everything in California is expensive? The program costs $8,934, the fourth cheapest option among the 20 best Master’s in early childhood education.

Part of the SUNY system, the University at Albany earns a No. 66 rank for best graduate education schools by U.S. News and World Report and a top 10 rank in most beautiful U.S. public colleges, per Thrillist. It’s decidedly average in one (good) way, though: price: $15,844.

Its licensure-oriented Master of Science in early childhood education focuses on kids from birth through second grade. The 30-hour program focuses heavily on core courses like literacy instruction and development, language acquisition, and teaching specific subjects (like social studies and math).

Students also take one elective from a list of six options, which includes stuff like Children’s Literature, Media Literacy, Assessment in Education, and Teaching Writing. It builds to a culminating project in Data-Based Decision Making in Literacy Assessment, Policy, and Practice. 

Once students complete the coursework, they ask the school to recommend them to the New York State Department of Education for B-2 certification (though students may complete the program without seeking it). To enter the program, applicants need transcripts, three recommendations, GRE scores (GMAT, edTPA, and Praxis are also acceptable), and a first childhood/elementary teaching certificate.

Part of the City University of New York, Brooklyn College “considers child development (typical and atypical) within the contexts of families, communities, and early learning settings in urban environments” for its Master of Science in education in early childhood education. That plays out in a curriculum that embraces linguistic and cultural openness, art and play, and inclusion. 

Brooklyn College offers three variations on its Master’s for 30-45 credits, depending on what if any, teaching certification the students possess.

Coursework covers topics like running early childhood education programs, educating diverse children, teaching English to dual-language learners and kids with special needs, gifted programs, teaching through the arts, and much more. 

Entrance to the program requires transcripts, two letters of recommendation, GRE scores, a teaching certificate, and a personal statement. The best part? The price. CUNY Brooklyn College costs a paltry $4,211, the cheapest program among the 20 best Master’s in early childhood education.

Hunter College in Manhattan describes its curriculum as “guided by the philosophy that all children have the inherent capacity to learn and grow in environments that foster creative thinking.” The intent is to train teachers to support children “across diverse cultures, abilities, settings, ages, and urban contexts.”

The Master of Science in education in early childhood education requires 30-42 credits. Like Brooklyn College, Hunter College has one option for people without certification (track one, 36-42 credits) and another for people with it (track two, 30-35). Both require a significant amount of fieldwork and student teaching.  

The study plan for Track One arranges coursework around early certification exams, whereas Track Two is less divided. But they share a lot of courses, covering the usual stuff like development, language and literacy, expressive arts, assessment, technology, and more. 

Applicants for both tracks need a bachelor’s with a 3.0 GPA, a statement of purpose, two letters of recommendation, and GRE scores. Track two students also need a teacher’s certification, while track one folks need to show at least 30 undergraduate credits in liberal arts or sciences. Like its fellow CUNY schools, Hunter College is a cheap date: $4,332 per academic year.