2021 Best Education Master's Degree Schools
Finding the Best Education Master's Degree School for You
In 2018-2019, 306,739 education students received their degrees and certificates, making the major the #4 most popular in the country.
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Education Master's Degree Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 479 schools in the United States to see which master's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.
View our full ranking methodology.
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2021 Best Education Master’s Degree Schools in the United States
The colleges and universities below are the best for education majors pursuing a master's degree.
Top 25 Top Schools for a Master's in Education
Our 2021 rankings named Stanford University the best school in the United States for education students working on their master’s degree. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.
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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Brandman University is a great place for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Delaware. It ranked #3 on our 2021 Best Education Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the suburb of Newark, U of Delaware is a public school with a very large student population.
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Out of the 479 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Johns Hopkins University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Johns Hopkins is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Baltimore.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend The College of New Jersey. It ranked #5 on our 2021 Best Education Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the suburb of Ewing, TCNJ is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.
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Lehigh University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Education Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the small city of Bethlehem, Lehigh is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
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University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign landed the #7 spot in the 2021 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public school with a fairly large student population.
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Bank Street College of Education did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the city of New York, Bank Street College of Education is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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With a ranking of #9, University of Redlands did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the small city of Redlands, U of Redlands is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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Drake University landed the #10 spot in the 2021 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Drake is a small private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Des Moines.
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Brown University landed the #11 spot in the 2021 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Brown is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Providence.
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Concordia University - Irvine ranked #12 on this year’s Best Education Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Irvine, Concordia University Irvine is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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Fairfield University came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Best Education Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large suburb of Fairfield, Fairfield U is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
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Pace University - New York landed the #14 spot in the 2021 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Pace University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
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American University ranked #15 on this year’s Best Education Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
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National University came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Best Education Master’s Degree Schools ranking. National University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of La Jolla.
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University of Pennsylvania did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #17 on the list. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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The College of Saint Rose came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Best Education Master’s Degree Schools ranking. The College of Saint Rose is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Albany.
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Fordham University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #19 on the list. Located in the large city of Bronx, Fordham U is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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Wilkes University ranked #20 on this year’s Best Education Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the small city of Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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Manhattan College came in at #21 in this year’s edition of the Best Education Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Manhattan is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Riverdale.
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Centenary University landed the #22 spot in the 2021 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Centenary is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Hackettstown.
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Endicott College landed the #23 spot in the 2021 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Located in the suburb of Beverly, Endicott is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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With a ranking of #24, Rider University did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the suburb of Lawrenceville, Rider is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
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With a ranking of #25, Hamline University did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Hamline is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Saint Paul.
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Remaining Award Winners
This list represents the rest of the schools awarded a Best Education Master's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the college was ranked in the top 15% of the 479 different United States education schools we analyzed.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | New York University | New York, NY |
| 52 | Texas A&M University - College Station | College Station, TX |
| 53 | Spalding University | Louisville, KY |
| 54 | Seattle Pacific University | Seattle, WA |
| 55 | University of Virginia - Main Campus | Charlottesville, VA |
| 56 | University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh | Oshkosh, WI |
| 57 | California State University - Fresno | Fresno, CA |
| 58 | Seattle University | Seattle, WA |
| 59 | California State University - Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA |
| 60 | University of Saint Joseph | West Hartford, CT |
| 61 | Molloy College | Rockville Centre, NY |
| 62 | Gonzaga University | Spokane, WA |
| 63 | Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, VA |
| 64 | University of Rochester | Rochester, NY |
| 65 | Buena Vista University | Storm Lake, IA |
| 66 | Syracuse University | Syracuse, NY |
| 67 | University of San Diego | San Diego, CA |
| 68 | San Jose State University | San Jose, CA |
| 69 | University of Washington - Seattle Campus | Seattle, WA |
| 70 | University of Minnesota - Twin Cities | Minneapolis, MN |
| 71 | American International College | Springfield, MA |
Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Education Master's Degree Schools award.
Education by Region
View the Best Education Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
Education Related Rankings by Major
Education Majors to Study
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 100,925 |
| Educational Administration | 44,381 |
| Teacher Education Subject Specific | 43,516 |
| General Education | 31,066 |
| Special Education | 30,639 |
| Curriculum & Instruction | 18,767 |
| Student Counseling | 13,679 |
| Instructional Media Design | 7,063 |
| Other Education | 5,503 |
| Teaching English or French | 5,407 |
| Multilingual Education | 1,636 |
| Teaching Assistants | 1,591 |
| Educational Assessment | 1,532 |
| Education Philosophy | 634 |
| International Education | 400 |
Majors Similar to Education
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Social Sciences | 203,399 |
| Psychology | 177,655 |
| Communication & Journalism | 122,154 |
| Family, Consumer & Human Sciences | 59,281 |
| History | 32,806 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
- Read more about our ranking methodology.
- 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 Horadrim.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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