6 Fastest Online Early Childhood Education Degree Bachelor’s Programs

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty is the #1 school for a fastest online ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion.
• Designed for work­ing adults, these pro­grams can be com­plet­ed in as lit­tle as 18–24 months, allow­ing stu­dents to enter the work­force sooner.
• Grad­u­ates are pre­pared to work in ear­ly child­hood set­tings, focus­ing on teach­ing and car­ing for young children.

Are you look­ing for the fastest online Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion degree pro­grams and what schools offer them? You’re in the right place! Ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion is defined as includ­ing any pro­gram for chil­dren who are not old enough to start kinder­garten. That includes for­mal preschool pro­grams as well as edu­ca­tion­al pro­grams run by day­care centers.

Orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished: Decem­ber 2018
Updat­ed: Decem­ber 2023

Preschool teach­ers are also need­ed for home-based gov­ern­ment inter­ven­tion pro­grams for at-risk chil­dren. If you’re inter­est­ed in ECE as a career, there are plen­ty of pro­grams that will allow you to get the degree you need quick­ly. This enables you to begin your career sooner.

The search for an accel­er­at­ed ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion degree isn’t too hard. Many col­leges have devel­oped online bachelor’s com­ple­tion pro­grams to help work­ing adults in the field fin­ish their degrees more quick­ly. How­ev­er, not all of them can be trust­ed. Sec­ond-rate online schools with big adver­tis­ing bud­gets can drown out the bet­ter options. 

For stu­dents who want a qual­i­ty pro­gram that is online and fast, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter has searched out every ECE accel­er­at­ed pro­gram online that offers speed and credibility.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Accelerated Online Early Childhood Education Degree Programs

To find the Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion accel­er­at­ed pro­gram options that allow stu­dents to get the high­est qual­i­ty and fastest edu­ca­tion degree in ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter focused exclu­sive­ly on region­al­ly accred­it­ed col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. Only online pro­grams with bachelor’s degree com­ple­tion pro­grams of 24 months or less made the cut!

1. Eastern Kentucky University

East­ern Kentucky’s Child and Fam­i­ly Stud­ies online degree is one of the best ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion accel­er­at­ed pro­grams in the nation. 

Not only will stu­dents have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to par­tic­i­pate in a ver­sa­tile pro­gram but they’ll also be able to devel­op a reward­ing career. Also, they’ll build the nec­es­sary skills to cre­ate strong fam­i­lies and pos­i­tive­ly impact their communities. 

Stu­dents can select from sev­er­al pro­gram options including:

• Bach­e­lor’s in Child and Fam­i­ly Stud­ies — Child Devel­op­ment Concentration
• Cer­tifi­cate in Infant/Toddler Care and Education
• Cer­tifi­cate in Ear­ly Child­hood Director

Stu­dents can com­plete the ECE fast-track pro­gram online in just 18 months since EKU accepts up to 90 trans­fer credits.

EKU ranks among the top 60 Top Pub­lic Region­al Uni­ver­si­ties in the South accord­ing to U.S. News and World Report, as well as one of the best online bachelor’s col­leges in the nation. 

Short, 8‑week terms and a gen­er­ous trans­fer pol­i­cy have helped make EKU one of the best online edu­ca­tors, with one of the fastest edu­ca­tion degree pro­grams, any­where in America.

Fastest Time to Com­ple­tion: 18 months

2. MidAmerica Nazarene University

MidAmer­i­ca Nazarene University’s Accel­er­at­ed Ele­men­tary Edu­ca­tion Uni­fied pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents for cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in both Ele­men­tary and Spe­cial Education.

Not only are these pro­grams flex­i­ble, but they have a design specif­i­cal­ly for work­ing adults. Class­es are avail­able entire­ly online until stu­dents receive their teach­ing expe­ri­ence. Stu­dents fin­ish­ing their pro­gram will have cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in both SpEd cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and ele­men­tary certification.

For those who have a degree in anoth­er edu­ca­tion career, it’s pos­si­ble to take advan­tage of the licen­sure pro­gram. Stu­dents can com­plete their ECE accel­er­at­ed pro­gram online and teach ele­men­tary-age stu­dents in as few as 18 months.

Ranked among the top Region­al Uni­ver­si­ties Mid­west accord­ing to U.S. News and World Reports, MAU has earned a strong rep­u­ta­tion for edu­ca­tion­al rig­or and ser­vice learning. 

In addi­tion, in recent years MidAmer­i­ca Nazarene has become one of the fore­most names in online Chris­t­ian edu­ca­tion, includ­ing its ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion accel­er­at­ed program.

Fastest Time to Com­ple­tion: 18 months

3. Rasmussen College

Ras­mussen College’s online Bach­e­lor’s in Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion accel­er­at­ed pro­gram is designed for work­ing adults who would like to launch or advance their careers with­out hav­ing to attend on-campus. 

When prospec­tive stu­dents are on a mis­sion to have a pos­i­tive impact on the lives of chil­dren through edu­ca­tion, ECE pro­grams will help them achieve their goals. Stu­dents will acquire skills in pro­mot­ing the healthy devel­op­ment of the emo­tion­al, intel­lec­tu­al, lan­guage, phys­i­cal, and social skills of children. 

Diplo­ma and Asso­ciate lev­el degree pro­gram offer­ings include Child with Spe­cial Needs and Child Devel­op­ment. Stu­dents par­tic­i­pat­ing in this accel­er­at­ed ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion degree pro­gram can fin­ish in as lit­tle as 18 months.

Ras­mussen Col­lege began in 1900 as a pri­vate, for-prof­it busi­ness school in Min­neso­ta, focused on prac­ti­cal skills for young busi­ness­men (and, even­tu­al­ly, women). Today, Ras­mussen is the rare for-prof­it col­lege to have earned region­al accred­i­ta­tion and has earned Gold stand­ing in the CDA Cre­den­tial and Coun­cil for Pro­fes­sion­al Recognition. 

Ras­mussen strives to meet the diverse needs of the com­mu­ni­ty with a dynam­ic cur­ricu­lum, inno­v­a­tive pro­grams, and gen­er­al edu­ca­tion skills, includ­ing its ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion fast-track program.

Fastest Time to Com­ple­tion: 18 months

4. Indiana Wesleyan University

Indi­ana Wes­leyan University’s online BS in Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion accel­er­at­ed pro­gram pre­pares edu­ca­tors to work with stu­dents from birth through age eight when grad­u­at­ing; an option­al cer­tifi­cate in Read­ing can also be added. 

Grad­u­ates will be able to demon­strate lead­er­ship in their pro­fes­sion and work with com­mu­ni­ties, fam­i­lies, and chil­dren. Some of the skills they’ll be devel­op­ing include: 

• doc­u­ment­ing, assess­ing, observ­ing, and sup­port­ing children
• build­ing mean­ing­ful cur­ricu­lum using con­tent knowledge
• pro­mot­ing child learn­ing and development
• using devel­op­men­tal­ly effec­tive approaches

It’s pos­si­ble to earn an Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion BS in as few as 24 months with IWU’s ECE accel­er­at­ed pro­gram online.

Indi­ana Wes­leyan Uni­ver­si­ty began in 1920 in Mar­i­on, IN, replac­ing the nor­mal school that had been pur­chased by the state to form Ball State Uni­ver­si­ty. Affil­i­at­ed with the Wes­leyan Church, IWU iden­ti­fies as an evan­gel­i­cal Chris­t­ian insti­tu­tion but wel­comes all students. 

IWU ranks #7 in Best Val­ue col­leges, and as one of the top Region­al Uni­ver­si­ties in the Mid­west, accord­ing to U.S. World News and Report. 

The uni­ver­si­ty’s val­ues include devel­op­ing a stu­den­t’s char­ac­ter and ensur­ing they have a spir­it-led edu­ca­tion, whether on-cam­pus or in online pro­grams like the ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion fast track program.

Fastest Time to Com­ple­tion: 24 months

5. The University of Toledo

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Tole­do’s online Bach­e­lor of Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion accel­er­at­ed pro­gram means busy work­ing adults who are present­ly hold­ing their asso­ci­ate’s degree can begin study­ing imme­di­ate­ly and com­plete their bachelor’s quickly. 

The non-licen­sure track com­bines the lat­est in prac­tice meth­ods, the­o­ry, and research to help stu­dents ensure chil­dren are thriv­ing as part of an engaged com­mu­ni­ty and indi­vid­u­al­ly. In as few as 24 months, stu­dents can com­plete their Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion pro­gram and begin working.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Tole­do dates back to a pri­vate trade school that opened in 1872, but that school quick­ly went under and was bought by the city, which res­ur­rect­ed it as a pub­lic tech­ni­cal col­lege. With its mis­sion firm­ly set on meet­ing the needs of Tole­do and its peo­ple, UT devel­oped into a com­pre­hen­sive research uni­ver­si­ty, and it is par­tic­u­lar­ly known today for its online pro­fes­sion­al programs. 

Their core val­ues of stu­dent-cen­tered research and schol­ar­ship, com­bined with diver­si­ty and acces­si­bil­i­ty, extend even to the fastest edu­ca­tion degree in Ohio.

Fastest Time to Com­ple­tion: 24 months

6. University of Washington

Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton’s online BA in Ear­ly Care and Edu­ca­tion makes it eas­i­er than ever for work­ing teach­ers to earn an accel­er­at­ed ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion degree. Busy work­ing adults can enjoy the flex­i­bil­i­ty of com­plet­ing class­es online that are designed to fit their schedule. 

Advanc­ing their career is pos­si­ble with out­comes including: 

• Child Life Specialists
• Ear­ly Learn­ing Coaching
• Edu­ca­tion Research
• Fam­i­ly Sup­port Specialists 

It’s pos­si­ble to achieve these edu­ca­tion­al goals in as few as 24 months through the university’s ECE accel­er­at­ed pro­gram online.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton was found­ed in 1861, when Seat­tle was a small city just begin­ning to devel­op, and stands as the state’s flag­ship pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty in the heart of one of the most dynam­ic and inno­v­a­tive met­ro­pol­i­tan areas in the world. Ranked a top nation­al uni­ver­si­ty and best val­ue by U.S. News, UW has been cen­tral to Seat­tle and the state of Washington’s devel­op­ment, edu­cat­ing a diverse stu­dent body into eth­i­cal glob­al cit­i­zens and leaders. 

It’s nev­er too ear­ly to start, and grad­u­ates of the ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion accel­er­at­ed pro­gram bring those val­ues into every preschool and Head Start they enter.

Fastest Time to Com­ple­tion: 24 months

Is an Early Childhood Education Accelerated Program Harder than a Traditional Program?

If you’re look­ing for quick and easy online degrees, you might be dis­ap­point­ed to real­ize that ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion fast-track pro­grams require you to learn the same mate­r­i­al as a more con­ven­tion­al pro­gram — just faster. But if you are a quick and moti­vat­ed learn­er, one of these pro­grams could be a good fit for you.

Because the pace of an ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion fast-track pro­gram is faster than a tra­di­tion­al pro­gram, the expe­ri­ence is more intense. There is no time to procrastinate.

The best ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion fast-track pro­grams allow some flex­i­bil­i­ty with sched­ul­ing and offer strong stu­dent sup­port ser­vices to help if you need tutor­ing or oth­er types of assis­tance. But they are only quick and easy online degrees if you are already a good stu­dent with out­stand­ing study habits.

How Long Does It Take to Get an Accelerated Early Childhood Education Degree?

Even if you’re a super-fast learn­er, you’re prob­a­bly not going to find any 6‑month bach­e­lor’s degrees. The fastest online degree com­ple­tion pro­grams usu­al­ly run from 12 to 24 months.

At 24 months, you’re not nec­es­sar­i­ly cram­ming a 4‑year degree into two years — most accel­er­at­ed ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion pro­grams will accept trans­fer cred­its to give you a head start — but the pace of an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram might feel like it. A 12-month pro­gram is even more intense. Even if you can find a school offer­ing a 6‑month bach­e­lor’s degree, it will be dif­fi­cult to learn the mate­r­i­al at such a fast pace.

The fastest online degree com­ple­tion pro­grams in ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion are self-paced. That means you can get your degree as quick­ly as you can com­plete the work. Real­is­ti­cal­ly, it takes most stu­dents 12 to 24 months to com­plete one of these programs.

What’s the Fastest Way to Get a Degree Online in Early Childhood Education?

So what if I need a degree fast? What’s the fastest way to get a degree online in ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion? Good ques­tions! There are a few ways to speed up the process of earn­ing a degree online.

You can earn your ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion degree faster if you have already com­plet­ed your gen­er­al edu­ca­tion cours­es and can find a school that will allow you to trans­fer those cred­its so that you won’t have to retake those courses. 

You may also be able to test out of some of your gen­er­al edu­ca­tion cours­es. Most like­ly, you will have to pay a fee to take each test, but you will save both time and mon­ey by doing so since the test-tak­ing fees are usu­al­ly low­er than the cost of tuition.

The fastest way to get a degree online is to look for schools with accel­er­at­ed six or eight-week terms so you can com­plete cours­es quick­ly. Take as many cours­es each term as you think you can han­dle. This will allow you to progress through the pro­gram as quick­ly as pos­si­ble at your own pace and start a high­ly reward­ing career as a preschool teacher.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Bachelor’s Pro­grams
15 Best Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Degree Online Bachelor’s Pro­grams
10 Most Afford­able Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Degree Online Bachelor’s
10 Cheap­est Online Bach­e­lor’s of Edu­ca­tion Degree Programs