What Is an Online Master's in Education?
An online master's in education is a graduate degree in teaching, school leadership, counseling, curriculum or another education field that a student can complete without a required visit to campus. Some of these degrees lead to a first teaching or administrator license. Others add a specialty, such as special education or educational technology, to a license the student already holds.
Federal IPEDS records file every one of these programs under a single education family of the Classification of Instructional Programs, which is how we find 5,943 master's programs at 1,180 schools and sorts them by how they are delivered.
What Do These Online Master's in Education Rankings Offer?
The online master's in education rankings here offer a shortlist you can check, built on public figures rather than on anyone's opinion of a school:
- Fully online programs only. 2,338 of the 5,943 master's programs on record qualify. Hybrid and on-campus programs are left off the lists.
- Two federal figures. Each program is scored on master's degrees awarded and on out-of-state graduate tuition and fees, weighted equally.
- One program per school. A list of 25 is 25 different schools, each shown by its best-scoring program.
- A card for every program. Each links to the school's own program page and to its record in College Navigator.
- No paid placement. No school pays for a score or a position.
Which Are the Best Online Master's in Education Programs?
The best online master's in education programs on the national list are University of the Cumberlands, York University, Fitchburg State University, American College of Education, and Northwestern College, in that order, from 1,771 ranked programs. Scores run from 94.1 to 95.2 out of 100 across these five, and each is a percentile against every ranked program, so a score shows standing among peers rather than a grade.
| Rank | School | Score | Degrees a Year | Out-of-State Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of the Cumberlands Williamsburg, Kentucky | 95.2 | 304 | $4,560 |
| 2 | York University York, Nebraska | 94.8 | 86 | $5,700 |
| 3 | Fitchburg State University Fitchburg, Massachusetts | 94.6 | 201 | $6,246 |
| 4 | American College of Education Indianapolis, Indiana | 94.1 | 1,074 | $6,600 |
| 5 | Northwestern College Orange City, Iowa | 94.1 | 88 | $6,600 |
The full national list carries 25 programs, each with a researched description of the degree and links to the school's own page.
Which Online Master's in Education Specialties Have Their Own Rankings?
Online master's in education programs are ranked in 15 specialties, from educational leadership to adult education, and each specialty has its own list of up to 25 programs. A program carries the same score on its specialty list as on the national one, so the lists differ only in which programs they include.
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Online Master's in Educational Leadership
280 ranked programs, 261 schools
The median ranked program here awards 19 degrees a year.
Top score University of the Cumberlands, 95.2
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Special Education
215 ranked programs, 201 schools
The median ranked program here awards 19 degrees a year.
Top score University of the Cumberlands, 95.2
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Curriculum and Instruction
150 ranked programs, 150 schools
The median ranked program here awards 24 degrees a year.
Top score University of the Cumberlands, 95.2
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Educational Technology
137 ranked programs, 137 schools
The median ranked program here awards 15 degrees a year.
Top score American College of Education, 94.1
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Reading and Literacy
118 ranked programs, 118 schools
The median ranked program here awards 14 degrees a year.
Top score University of the Cumberlands, 95.2
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Elementary Education
83 ranked programs, 83 schools
The median ranked program here awards 19 degrees a year.
Top score University of the Cumberlands, 95.2
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Secondary Education
63 ranked programs, 63 schools
The median ranked program here awards 13 degrees a year.
Top score University of the Cumberlands, 95.2
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Higher Education Administration
64 ranked programs, 60 schools
The median ranked program here awards 14 degrees a year.
Top score Liberty University, 91.7
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Early Childhood Education
56 ranked programs, 56 schools
The median ranked program here awards 16 degrees a year.
Top score American College of Education, 94.1
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in School Counseling
57 ranked programs, 57 schools
The median ranked program here awards 30 degrees a year.
Top score University of the Cumberlands, 95.2
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in TESOL and ESL
49 ranked programs, 47 schools
The median ranked program here awards 11 degrees a year.
Top score American College of Education, 94.1
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Physical Education and Coaching
35 ranked programs, 35 schools
The median ranked program here awards 12 degrees a year.
Top score Northwest Missouri State University, 88.0
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Math Education
18 ranked programs, 18 schools
The median ranked program here awards 12 degrees a year.
Top score Western Governors University, 90.1
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Science Education
22 ranked programs, 15 schools
The median ranked program here awards 13 degrees a year.
Top score Western Governors University, 90.1
See the Ranking -
Online Master's in Adult Education
26 ranked programs, 26 schools
The median ranked program here awards 15 degrees a year.
Top score American College of Education, 84.6
See the Ranking
Which Online Master's in Education Specialty Has the Most Ranked Programs?
Educational Leadership has the most ranked online master's in education programs, 280 of the 1,771 ranked, and Math Education has the fewest, with 18. Another 398 ranked programs sit in fields outside all 15 specialties and compete only on the national list.
What Should You Check Besides Rank Before Choosing an Online Master's in Education Program?
Before choosing an online master's in education program, check what your home state requires for a license, what the roles the degree points to involve and pay, and how the rankings were built. A school's rank says nothing about whether your state will license its graduates, and for an online student the state that counts is the one where you plan to teach.
- Licensure by Home State What each state asks of a teacher or administrator who earns a master's online.
- Education Careers 8 education occupations, from school principal to high school teacher, and what each involves.
- Education Salaries What the same occupations pay, from federal wage data.
- Guides and Articles Reading on whether a master's in education is worth it and how licenses travel between states.
- How We Rank Each rule behind the score, and each limit of the two federal figures it uses.
Where Does the Information on These Online Master's in Education Programs Come From?
The information on these online master's in education programs comes from two places: federal records for the figures, and each school's own program pages for the description of the degree.
The figures are the number of master's degrees each program awarded in its latest reported year, from IPEDS, and the graduate tuition and required fees each school reported for 2023-24, from IPEDS Institutional Characteristics. The program records were read on October 6, 2026. The description on each card was written from that program's own page, which the card links to, and a program is ranked only when it has one.
A program counts as fully online when its school's own description says the degree can be completed at a distance. That follows the idea in the federal definition of a distance education program, applied to program wording. A required campus residency moves a program to hybrid, while a student teaching or practicum placement near home does not. The methodology page gives every test, and the about page says who maintains the site.