Best Elementary Schools in California

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Find the best California elementary schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish California test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the CAST and Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores by the California Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2018)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 5862)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
060717000656	2321	Camino Elementary	Public	K-8	3060 Snows Rd.	Camino	95709	El Dorado County	Camino Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 644-4552	406	22	18.2	51.0%	274 (67.5%)	2 (0.5%)	107 (26.4%)	2 (0.5%)	9 (2.2%)	2 (0.5%)	10 (2.5%)	$11,405							54.4	57.1	2180	141
062142002563	2322	Buford Elementary	Public	K-5	4919 West 109th St.	Lennox	90304	Los Angeles County	Lennox	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 680-8900	525	25	21.4	86.7%	3 (0.6%)	5 (1.0%)	497 (94.7%)	4 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (3.0%)	$9,307							54.3	46.6	2725	403
062825004370	2323	Palmquist Elementary	Public	K-5	1999 California St.	Oceanside	92054	San Diego County	Oceanside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 901-8500	525	20	25.7	58.5%	230 (43.8%)	4 (0.8%)	235 (44.8%)	10 (1.9%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)	42 (8.0%)	$12,138							54.3	46.7	2715	392
061887002286	2324	George Washington Elementary	Public	K-5	251 Whittier St.	Daly City	94014	San Mateo County	Jefferson Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 991-1236	192	10	19.2	57.8%	6 (3.1%)	5 (2.6%)	88 (45.8%)	79 (41.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.6%)	11 (5.7%)	$12,152							54.3	60.1	2051	273
060182314328	2325	Gorman Learning Center San Bernardino/Santa Clarita	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1826 Orange Tree Ln.	Redlands	92374	San Bernardino County	Gorman Learning Center San Bernardino/Santa Clarita District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 307-6312	1,427	55	25.8	40.9%	565 (39.6%)	51 (3.6%)	613 (43.0%)	77 (5.4%)	4 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	115 (8.1%)								54.3	55	2285	40
061545001963	2326	Gold Trail	Public	4-8	889 Cold Springs Rd.	Placerville	95667	El Dorado County	Gold Trail Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 626-2595	268	14	18.8	26.1%	216 (80.6%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (16.4%)	1 (0.4%)	3 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.5%)	$9,112							54.2	49	2585	259
060201210451	2327	Golden Valley Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	3585 Maple St. Ste. 101	Ventura	93003	Ventura County	Golden Valley Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 642-3435	502	16	30.4	35.9%	250 (49.8%)	7 (1.4%)	155 (30.9%)	21 (4.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	68 (13.5%)								54.2	46.7	2713	386
064038006681	2328	Union Hill Elementary	Public, Charter	K-6	11638 Colfax Hwy.	Grass Valley	95945	Nevada County	Union Hill Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 273-8456	543	28	19.2	46.4%	413 (76.1%)	0 (0.0%)	54 (9.9%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	71 (13.1%)	$9,476							54.2	48.8	2589	261
063153004899	2329	Valley Elementary	Public	K-5	13000 Bowron Rd.	Poway	92064	San Diego County	Poway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 748-2007	659	28	23.7	40.5%	157 (23.8%)	13 (2.0%)	408 (61.9%)	37 (5.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (6.7%)	$7,062							54.2	56.2	2226	103
060155611883	2330	Uncharted Shores Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-9	330 E St.	Crescent City	95531	Del Norte County	Uncharted Shores Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 464-9828	295	13	22.7	63.1%	201 (68.1%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (16.3%)	5 (1.7%)	14 (4.7%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (9.2%)								54.2	64.4	1825	505

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics, CAST Science test scores released by the California Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 10, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the California Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education.