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Best Education Master's Degree Schools in California

2023 Best Education Master's Degree Schools in California

57 Colleges
$49,367 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, education students earned 25,545 degrees and certificates from a California school, making the subject the 7th in the state.

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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Education Master's Degree Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 57 schools in California to see which ones offered the best master's degree programs 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.

2023 Best Education Master’s Degree Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for education majors pursuing a master's degree.

Top 10 Best Education Master's Degree Schools

Our analysis found Claremont Graduate University to be the best school for education students who want to pursue a master’s degree in California. Claremont Graduate University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Claremont.

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#2

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Out of the 57 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Stanford University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.

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#3

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, CA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Santa Clara University. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Education Master’s Degree Schools in California list. SCU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Santa Clara.

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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Fresno Pacific University is a great place for education students working on their master’s degree. Fresno Pacific is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Fresno.

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Out of the 57 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Concordia University, Irvine landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the city of Irvine, Concordia University, Irvine is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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#6

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

With a ranking of #6, Brandman University did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

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University of California - Irvine 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 #7 on the list. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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#8

University of Redlands

Redlands, CA

University of Redlands 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 small city of Redlands, University of Redlands is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

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With a ranking of #9, University of California - Berkeley did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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With a ranking of #10, Saint Mary’s College of California did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the suburb of Moraga, SMC is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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Best Education Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Education Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 5,206
Oregon 4,001
Hawaii 830
Nevada 1,387
Alaska 331

Education Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific 110,226
Educational Administration 46,469
Teacher Education Subject Specific 43,297
Special Education 36,792
General Education 29,810
Curriculum & Instruction 19,832
Student Counseling 13,858
Instructional Media Design 8,695
Teaching English or French 5,791
Other Education 4,858
Teaching Assistants 2,751
Educational Assessment 2,552
Multilingual Education 1,910
Education Philosophy 737
International Education 293

Related Major Annual Graduates
Social Sciences 205,984
Psychology 195,678
Communication & Journalism 120,571
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

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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