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)
060162000015	231	Gonsalves (Joe A.) Elementary	Public	K-6	13650 Park St.	Cerritos	90703	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 229-7860	560	24	23.3	35.5%	25 (4.5%)	24 (4.3%)	103 (18.4%)	358 (63.9%)	2 (0.4%)	3 (0.5%)	45 (8.0%)	$5,137							96.4	97.6	133	98
061422001622	232	Courreges (Roch) Elementary	Public	K-5	18313 Santa Carlotta	Fountain Valley	92708	Orange County	Fountain Valley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 378-4280	668	26	25.8	20.1%	228 (34.1%)	2 (0.3%)	82 (12.3%)	273 (40.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	82 (12.3%)	$9,184							96.4	96.2	254	22
068450007055	233	Eastshore Elementary	Public	K-6	155 Eastshore	Irvine	92604	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-5700	539	18	29.9	15.4%	163 (30.2%)	7 (1.3%)	74 (13.7%)	246 (45.6%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)	45 (8.3%)	$5,391							96.3	96.7	219	14
063033004730	234	Havens Elementary	Public	K-5	323 Highland Ave.	Piedmont	94611	Alameda County	Piedmont City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 594-2699	415	26	16	1.7%	237 (57.1%)	8 (1.9%)	31 (7.5%)	67 (16.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	72 (17.3%)	$12,340							96.3	98.1	86	148
060184204029	235	San Carlos Charter Learning Center	Public, Charter	K-8	750 Dartmouth Ave.	San Carlos	94070	San Mateo County	San Carlos Charter Learning Center District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 508-7343	367	19	19.3	4.6%	176 (48.0%)	2 (0.5%)	38 (10.4%)	92 (25.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	58 (15.8%)								96.3	94.9	357	122
060744009745	236	Philip J. Reilly Elementary	Public	K-5	24171 Pavion	Mission Viejo	92692	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 454-1590	418	20	20.7	27.5%	228 (54.5%)	8 (1.9%)	72 (17.2%)	31 (7.4%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	77 (18.4%)	$9,821							96.3	94.2	415	179
063255005038	237	Kensington Elementary	Public	K-6	90 Highland Blvd.	Kensington	94708	Alameda County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 231-1415	454	18	25.2	10.6%	234 (51.5%)	5 (1.1%)	57 (12.6%)	67 (14.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	91 (20.0%)	$5,426							96.3	95.4	324	87
062250002748	238	Naples Elementary	Public	K-5	5537 The Toledo	Long Beach	90803	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 433-0489	306	12	26.5	24.5%	155 (50.7%)	6 (2.0%)	86 (28.1%)	22 (7.2%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	35 (11.4%)	$8,282							96.3	97.4	153	85
062961004588	239	Walter Hays Elementary	Public	K-5	1525 Middlefield Rd.	Palo Alto	94301	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 322-5956	295	15	19.7	15.6%	84 (28.5%)	7 (2.4%)	56 (19.0%)	108 (36.6%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (2.4%)	33 (11.2%)	$15,636							96.3	95.1	348	109
062271003443	240	Warner Avenue Elementary	Public	K-5	615 Holmby Ave.	Los Angeles	90024	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 475-5893	592	26	22.7	10.8%	394 (66.6%)	16 (2.7%)	41 (6.9%)	65 (11.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	75 (12.7%)	$8,113							96.3	97.4	151	89

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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

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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