In 1955, proposed by Ministry of Education “Academy of Education Administration" was established with approval of Chairman Mao Zedong. The campus was located in Heping Gate community, Xuanwu district, Beijing.

On April 29, 1957, Mao Zedong, Zhu De and Deng Xiaoping received all the graduates of “Academy of Education Administration" and took a group photo. In 1960, the academy was closed for historical reasons.

In 1980, the state council approved the re-establishment of the academy, which was named “Central Academy of Education Administration". It was located in the Changping campus of Peking University, former Changping county, Beijing.

In 1991, the “Central Academy of Education Administration" was renamed “National Senior Academy of Education Administration".

In 1996, Ministry of Education decided to build a new campus to meet the needs of education leaders training. In 1998, the new site was completed and the academy moved from Changping to current location of Daxing district, Beijing.

In 2002, “National Senior Academy of Education Administration" was renamed “National Academy of Education Administration (NAEA)" with the approval of the Central Establishment Committee.

In May 2013, NAEA Online Academy was established.

In March 2019, the MOE Party School was established at NAEA.

In November 2020, NAEA Postdoctoral Research Station was approved.