The Best Colleges & Schools in California to Become a Teacher

Stanford University

• Stanford University's School of Education is one of the best in the nation. "U.S. News & World Report" ranked the Stanford program at No. 2 overall, making it the highest rated education department in the state of California. Stanford is renowned for its science and engineering programs, but they have also engineered innovation through research in the science of teaching. Because of Stanford's commitment to excellence in other areas, its bachelor's degree program in education is an honors track that is pursued in conjunction with studies in another academic field. This means that students can pursue a degree in any field and supplement their work in that field with research and coursework from the education department. Students can also pursue education as a minor. At the graduate level, Stanford offers the teacher education program for elementary and secondary teaching en route to state certification requirements. It also offers additional degrees in the areas of international comparative education, international education administration and policy analysis, curriculum and teacher education and learning design and technology. Students can also pursue the master's degree in conjunction with a J.D. in law education or the MBA degree through the business school. Stanford also offers 21 different doctoral degrees in the field of education.

  Stanford University
  School of Education
  485 Lasuen Mall
  Stanford, CA 94305
  650-723-2109
  ed.stanford.edu

UCLA

• The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has the state of California's second-best teacher education program. "U.S. News & World Report" ranked the program No. 5 in the nation. Much like Stanford, UCLA's undergraduate program in education is offered through tangential study to another degree program through its Diversified Liberal Arts Program (DLAP). At the master's degree level, UCLA offers concentrations in student affairs, higher education and organizational change, leadership, social research methodology, social sciences and comparative education and teacher education program that leads to the state required credentials. The school also offers the Ed.D. and the Ph.D. in various fields as well.

  University of California--Los Angeles
  1009 Moore Hall
  MB 951521
  Los Angeles, CA 90095
  www.gseis.ucla.edu

University of California--Berkeley

• The University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is the state's third-highest rated program and, at No. 7 on the "U.S. News" list, one of the best in the nation as well. Like UCLA and Stanford, UC Berkeley's emphasis is on graduate studies, with undergraduate studies offered parallel to other disciplines' degree programs. UC Berkeley divides its curriculum into three area of emphasis: cognition and development, language and literacy, society and culture; and policy, organization, measurement and evaluation. Degrees offered are both the master's degree and the doctorate. State teaching credentials can be obtained in the areas of developmental education, science and math education, multicultural secondary English and principal leadership.

  University of California--Berkeley
  Graduate School of Education
  1600 Tolman Hall
  Berkeley, CA 94720
  510-642-5345
  gse.berkeley.edu/academic.html