It goes without saying that being an educator is itself a long and enlightening process of learning.
State requirements for continuing education credits to keep your license current ensure it… Extra required coursework to build on your endorsements and expand your specializations ensure it… New developments in your field, breakthroughs and research you have to keep up on ensure it.
A kind of respect for the epistemic process and a thirst for knowledge that brought you into education in the first place will keep you on the college track for most of your career.
As you take the next steps in your teaching career, toward becoming an educational leader, there’s yet more learning to be done. And that process can start right here, as we help you sort out the many considerations that go into choosing an educational leadership program that will take you to the next level.
Our Lists Feature Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees with Administrator Certification Tracks Offered at Private Universities…
Making the move to become an administrator or advance to a higher administrator position means earning a master’s, EdS, or doctorate that offers one of two different administrator preparation options:
- Building-level leadership certification to become an assistant principal or principal
- District-level leadership certification to become a superintendent
In both cases, the degree you choose must:
- Have an educational leadership focus, such as in a Master of Education in Educational Administration, or a Master of Arts in Education Leadership.
- Deliver a range of classes covering everything from basic leadership skills to advanced pedagogical and education policy concepts
- Offer coursework as required by your state licensing body to comply with administrator certification qualifications
But there are also other paths to becoming an educational leader with a master’s, EdS, or doctorate …
- Becoming a specialist in areas such as curriculum design or educational technology
- Staying in the classroom and continuing to teach, but distinguishing yourself as a faculty leader or specialist in high needs areas like special education or STEM
No matter what path you take, when it comes to choosing a program, it’s worth taking the time to look at the most affordable educational leadership programs in your state, and the programs our editorial staff selected as their top picks.
Our Analyses of the Most Affordable Educational Leadership Degree Programs Offered at Private Universities
Getting a First-rate Leadership Education on a Budget You Can Afford
The most expensive educational leadership degrees can feel out of reach for many teachers. But with a little extra digging, it’s entirely possible to find affordable master’s degrees in educational leadership that are every bit as amazing as more expensive options.
We’ve done that digging for you, looking at every single accredited administrator track master’s program offered through private universities in every state in the country. That’s a lot of digging.
Affordability can mean different things to different people, of course, but we can all agree that if the cost is lower than the state average for similar programs, it’s worth a look from any budget-minded prospective graduate student.
We put together a simple set of criteria explaining exactly how we found the most affordable educational leadership master’s programs that don’t compromise anything when it comes to quality.
Our Regional Lists Make It Easy to Find the Most Affordable Educational Leadership Programs in Your State
Part of that criteria revolves around determining what degrees are actually available in your neck of the woods. A most-affordable list that only offers entries on the other side of the country isn’t very useful.
Affordability doesn’t matter much if it doesn’t come with accessibility.
On top of that, administrator preparation program coursework requirements differ by state. While it’s possible with many licensing agencies to get a degree in a different state and then go about making a point-by-point comparison to get it accepted, that’s a headache you don’t need.
So we make it easy to find the most affordable options right where you live and work with our state-by-state analyses, conveniently grouped by region. You’ll have no trouble finding schools in your area that you can afford—and that your state licensing agency will accept.
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The Pacific Region
Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The Mountain Region
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The West South Central Region
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The South Atlantic Region
Virginia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C.
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The East South Central Region
Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The East North Central Region
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The West North Central Region
Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The New England Region
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
The Most Affordable Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The Middle Atlantic Region
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Editorial Selections of Our Favorite Educational Leadership Master’s Programs
Making Hard Calls to Give You Our Top Picks for Educational Leadership Degree Programs
It’s something you’ve probably been telling your students for years already: aim for the top. Now it’s time to take your own advice.
Every single job in educational leadership is a tough one. Every big decision that requires making tough calls winds up on your shoulders. You’ll be in the hot seat at staff meetings, school board meetings, community meetings. Tough decisions about allocating budgets that are too small, handling thorny disciplinary issues, or signing off on controversial curriculum standards may not even have right answers—only the least wrong ones.
There’s no way you want to put yourself in those positions with anything less than the absolute best training in leadership and educational administration.
Finding a Top-rated Educational Leadership Degree Program in a Place Where It Will Make the Most Difference
We had to make some tough choices ourselves as we went through all the different educational leadership programs in the country to decide on the best of the best. Not only are there a lot of graduate degrees in educational leadership available, but they embrace an eye-watering range of specializations and concentration options. From enrollment management to school improvement, there can be a lot of differences in how these degrees are taught and what kind of positions they will prepare you to fill.
But there are some consistent features in every great education that teachers know to look for, things like:
- Faculty qualifications and experience
- School support services
- Research and resource availability
- Community connections
- Reputation and rankings
For more about the criteria we used to select top picks, we put together a whole page to walk you through the details.
For some professions, you may want to judge excellence in education on the national scale. It doesn’t matter if you learned your economics skills in Chicago or Miami—the same kind of degree and the right reputation will still land you a job in New York.
That’s not necessarily the case in the world of education, though. Educational leadership jobs are licensed, and often come with different job descriptions from state to state. A school that knows how to build the best administrators in the Northeast may not cover what a school district hiring in the desert Southwest really expects out of a new superintendent. And the coursework itself might not meet the exact standards required for licensure.
So it’s best to think of education in a regional sense, and that’s how we have put together our lists. State-by-state, grouped in the nine standard U.S. Census regions of the country, we give you the top picks that are the most useful for where you live and work.
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The Pacific Region
Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The Mountain Region
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The West South Central Region
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The South Atlantic Region
Virginia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C.
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The East South Central Region
Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The East North Central Region
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The West North Central Region
Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The New England Region
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
Editor’s Choice For The Top Educational Leadership Master’s Degrees in The Middle Atlantic Region
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Offering You More Than Just a Menu in Your Search for Educational Leadership Excellence
You’ll also find far more here than just a big buffet of degrees and a checklist of coursework needed to get the top jobs. Our entire site is built around giving you the information and resources you need to make the right decisions as you plot your next career moves.
For all our editor’s choice programs, both the top picks and those that are most affordable, that includes detailed program-by-program details like:
- In-depth explorations of principal, superintendent, and other educational leadership jobs that a master’s degree will qualify you to fill
- Extensive explanations of what those degree studies consist of
- A look at the different types of degree options available
- Discussions of licensing and real-world requirements you’ll have to meet beyond just the right degree to become qualified as an educational administrator
- Cost details, both for most affordable and top pick programs, so you know what your budget will be
As you’ll see when you check out the lists, you have many, many options for continuing your educational leadership studies. Diving in and picking out the right options can be an exhausting process. Whether cost is no object, or the most important consideration, we’ve already done a lot of the legwork for you.