2025 Best Early Childhood Education Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

If you pursue a associate degree in early childhood education, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #16 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 17 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Early Childhood Education Associate Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 884 associate degrees in early childhood education during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Early Childhood Education School for Your Associate Degree

Your choice of early childhood education for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on early childhood education students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other early childhood education students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized early childhood education related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for early childhood education students working on their associate degree.

More Ways to Rank Early Childhood Education Schools

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

Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Early Childhood Education in the Great Lakes Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in early childhood education.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for an Associate in Child development

1

Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global
Marion, IN

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

48 Annual Graduates

Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global is a good option for individuals pursuing an associate degree in early childhood education. IWU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Marion.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global

2

Gateway Technical College
Kenosha, WI

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

19 Annual Graduates

Gateway Technical College is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in early childhood education. Gateway Technical College is a fairly large public college located in the small city of Kenosha.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Gateway Technical College

3

Ivy Tech Community College
Indianapolis, IN

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

165 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in early childhood education needs to look into Ivy Tech Community College. Ivy Tech Community College is a very large public college located in the city of Indianapolis.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Ivy Tech Community College

4

Rasmussen University - Illinois
Rockford, IL

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

29 Annual Graduates

Rasmussen University - Illinois is a good choice for students pursuing an associate degree in early childhood education. Located in the city of Rockford, Rasmussen University - Illinois is a private for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Rasmussen University - Illinois

5

Madison Area Technical College
Madison, WI

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

23 Annual Graduates

Madison College is a fairly large public college located in the large city of Madison.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Madison Area Technical College

6

Milwaukee Area Technical College
Milwaukee, WI

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

58 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Milwaukee, MATC is a public college with a large student population.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Milwaukee Area Technical College

7

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
Green Bay, WI

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

41 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Green Bay, NWTC is a public college with a large student population.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

8

Fox Valley Technical College
Appleton, WI

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

26 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Appleton, FVTC is a public college with a large student population.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Fox Valley Technical College

9

Waukesha County Technical College
Pewaukee, WI

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

24 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Pewaukee, WCTC is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Waukesha County Technical College

10

Southwest Wisconsin Technical College
Fennimore, WI

Associate Degree Highest Degree Type

15 Annual Graduates

Southwest Tech is a small public college located in the rural area of Fennimore.More information about a associate in early childhood education from Southwest Wisconsin Technical College

Best Early Childhood Education Colleges by State

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Ohio	450	124
Michigan	410	87
Illinois	267	111
Wisconsin	224	323
Indiana	221	256

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Child development

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
Kindergarten/Preschool Education & Teaching	1,200
Elementary Education	114
Teacher Education	95
Secondary Education	53
Junior High/Intermediate/Middle School Education & Teaching	10

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• 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 Vgrigas. More about our data sources and methodologies.