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2025 Best Early Childhood Education Schools in New York

14 Colleges in New York
981 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.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 14 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Early Childhood Education Schools in New York ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 981 degrees in early childhood education annually.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Early Childhood Education School

Best Early Childhood Education Schools in New York 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

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 New York 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 New York

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.

10 Top New York Schools in Child development

1
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
10th Most Popular In NY
33 Child development Degrees Awarded

New York University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in early childhood education. Located in the city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #16 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.

There were roughly 33 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at NYU in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from New York University

2
Hunter crest
Hunter College
New York, NY
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In NY
102 Child development Degrees Awarded

Hunter College is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in early childhood education. Located in the large city of New York, Hunter is a public college with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #296 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Hunter is a great college overall.

There were approximately 102 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Hunter in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Hunter College

3
Brooklyn College crest
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn, NY
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In NY
165 Child development Degrees Awarded

It is hard to beat Brooklyn College if you want to pursue a degree in early childhood education. Brooklyn College is a fairly large public college located in the large city of Brooklyn. This college ranks 62nd out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.

There were about 165 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Brooklyn College in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Brooklyn College

4
SUNY Cortland crest
SUNY Cortland
Cortland, NY
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
29th Most Popular In NY
80.0% Growth in Graduates

SUNY Cortland is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in early childhood education. SUNY Cortland is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Cortland. A Best Colleges rank of #218 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means SUNY Cortland is a great school overall.

There were approximately 5 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at SUNY Cortland in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from SUNY Cortland

5
QC crest
Queens College
Queens, NY
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
6th Most Popular In NY
66 Child development Degrees Awarded

Located in the city of Queens, QC is a public college with a fairly large student population. This college ranks 52nd out of 136 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.

There were approximately 66 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at QC in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Queens College

6
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
11th Most Popular In NY

Located in the large city of New York, Pace University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #343 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Pace University is a great university overall.

There were roughly 26 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Pace University in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Pace University - New York

7
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In NY
59 Child development Degrees Awarded

Located in the city of New York, CCNY is a public college with a large student population. This college ranks 65th out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.

There were approximately 59 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at CCNY in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from The City College of New York

8
SUNY New Paltz crest
SUNY New Paltz
New Paltz, NY
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
19th Most Popular In NY

Located in the town of New Paltz, SUNY New Paltz is a public school with a medium-sized student population. This school ranks 73rd out of 136 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.

There were approximately 6 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at SUNY New Paltz in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from SUNY New Paltz

9
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
24th Most Popular In NY
20.0% Growth in Graduates

STJ is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Queens. A Best Colleges rank of #298 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means STJ is a great university overall.

There were approximately 5 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at STJ in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from St John’s University - New York

10
Buffalo State crest
Buffalo State
Buffalo, NY
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
13th Most Popular In NY

Located in the city of Buffalo, Buffalo State is a public school with a moderately-sized student population. This school ranks 100th out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.

There were approximately 17 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Buffalo State in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in early childhood education from Buffalo State

Best Early Childhood Education Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore all the Best Early Childhood Education Schools in the Middle Atlantic Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Pennsylvania 978 1,644
Maryland 618 485
New Jersey 614 150
District of Columbia 441 28
Delaware 345 61

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 2,778
Teacher Education 1,433
Secondary Education 540
Adult & Continuing Education 65
Junior High/Intermediate/Middle School Education & Teaching 46
Teacher Development & Methodology 30
Online Educator/Online Teaching 24
College/Postsecondary/University Teaching 15
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Educational Methods 9
Kindergarten/Preschool Education & Teaching 1

View All Child development Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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