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)
060002505922	71	Opal Robinson Elementary	Public	K-5	80 Morningside Dr.	Manhattan Beach	90266	Los Angeles County	Manhattan Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 318-5120	287	12	23.9	6.6%	160 (55.7%)	4 (1.4%)	45 (15.7%)	28 (9.8%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.7%)	47 (16.4%)	$12,181							98.1	97.4	155	84
061440001677	72	Mission San Jose Elementary	Public	K-5	43545 Bryant St.	Fremont	94539	Alameda County	Fremont Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 656-1200	430	19	22.6	14.9%	10 (2.3%)	7 (1.6%)	18 (4.2%)	369 (85.8%)	4 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (5.1%)	$7,676							98.1	99.2	13	59
068450007064	73	Santiago Hills Elementary	Public	K-6	29 Christamon West	Irvine	92620	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6000	561	19	29.5	12.8%	88 (15.7%)	2 (0.4%)	40 (7.1%)	368 (65.6%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	61 (10.9%)	$5,787							98.1	98.2	83	10
063429014383	74	Mariposa	Public	4-5	750 Dartmouth Ave.	San Carlos	94070	San Mateo County	San Carlos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 832-4201	286	15	19.5	9.8%	84 (29.4%)	2 (0.7%)	52 (18.2%)	95 (33.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.0%)	50 (17.5%)								98.1	97.9	111	37
060807000778	75	Los Coyotes Elementary	Public	K-6	8122 Moody St.	La Palma	90623	Orange County	Centralia Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 228-3260	576	22	26.1	33.3%	50 (8.7%)	5 (0.9%)	116 (20.1%)	350 (60.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	53 (9.2%)	$7,580							98.1	98.6	44	31
063432005495	76	La Jolla Elementary	Public	K-5	1111 Marine St.	La Jolla	92037	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 454-7196	526	23	22.8	15.0%	325 (61.8%)	2 (0.4%)	83 (15.8%)	55 (10.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	61 (11.6%)	$8,302							98.1	98.7	40	36
060255214522	77	Irvine International Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	4782 Karen Ann Ln.	Irvine	92604	Orange County	Irvine International Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 242-6164	372	20	18.6	22.6%	66 (17.7%)	4 (1.1%)	15 (4.0%)	258 (69.4%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	27 (7.3%)								98	93.7	465	388
063432005330	78	Dingeman Elementary	Public	K-5	11840 Scripps Creek Dr.	San Diego	92131	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 549-4437	695	26	26.3	13.7%	139 (20.0%)	10 (1.4%)	43 (6.2%)	446 (64.2%)	5 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	50 (7.2%)	$7,174							98	98.2	76	2
060162000021	79	Leal (Frank C.) Elementary	Public	K-6	12920 Droxford St.	Cerritos	90703	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 229-7880	788	29	27.2	36.9%	16 (2.0%)	30 (3.8%)	149 (18.9%)	494 (62.7%)	7 (0.9%)	7 (0.9%)	85 (10.8%)	$5,235							98	98	102	23
063432005561	80	Torrey Pines Elementary	Public	K-5	8350 Cliffridge Ave.	La Jolla	92037	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 605-3700	450	20	22.7	17.6%	220 (48.9%)	1 (0.2%)	77 (17.1%)	83 (18.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (15.3%)	$7,883							98	97.8	114	34

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.