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)
062949009599	2821	Linscott Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	220 Elm St.	Watsonville	95076	Santa Cruz County	Pajaro Valley Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 728-6301	259	10	25.9	65.3%	31 (12.0%)	1 (0.4%)	212 (81.9%)	4 (1.5%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	9 (3.5%)								45.6	50.5	2504	317
060209114186	2822	Grow Academy Shafter	Public, Charter	K-8	471 West Los Angeles St.	Shafter	93263	Kern County	Grow Academy Shafter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 630-7220	810	31	25.9	79.5%	69 (8.5%)	7 (0.9%)	722 (89.1%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.2%)								45.6	40.3	3105	283
063543006041	2823	Kathryn Hughes Elementary	Public	K-5	4949 Calle de Escuela	Santa Clara	95054	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-1500	293	16	18.2	47.1%	36 (12.3%)	11 (3.8%)	122 (41.6%)	101 (34.5%)	3 (1.0%)	2 (0.7%)	18 (6.1%)	$11,437							45.6	47.2	2685	138
061488001875	2824	Riverdale Elementary	Public	K-6	13222 Lewis St.	Garden Grove	92843	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6563	524	20	26.8	89.9%	8 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	416 (79.4%)	87 (16.6%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	10 (1.9%)	$11,968							45.6	34.1	3569	745
063525005972	2825	Jefferson Elementary	Public	K-6	1110 Tucker St.	Sanger	93657	Fresno County	Sanger Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 524-6250	508	21	24.4	89.4%	12 (2.4%)	4 (0.8%)	474 (93.3%)	10 (2.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.2%)	$10,787							45.5	44.4	2862	37
061218001373	2826	Magee Academy of Arts & Sciences	Public	K-5	8200 Serapis Ave.	Pico Rivera	90660	Los Angeles County	El Rancho Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 801-7620	393	15	26.2	82.2%	4 (1.0%)	4 (1.0%)	383 (97.5%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$4,772							45.5	34.8	3517	691
060444000398	2827	Thomas Jefferson Elementary	Public	K-6	10027 East Rose St.	Bellflower	90706	Los Angeles County	Bellflower Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 804-6521	493	19	25.6	89.7%	20 (4.1%)	83 (16.8%)	328 (66.5%)	35 (7.1%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.8%)	22 (4.5%)	$8,884							45.5	40.4	3099	272
062271002869	2828	Brooklyn Avenue	Public	K-8	4620 Cesar Chavez Ave.	Los Angeles	90022	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 269-8161	505	26	19.4	87.7%	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	500 (99.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.8%)	$10,364							45.5	36.3	3411	583
062136014547	2829	Freedom Elementary	Public	K-6	755 North 19Th Ave.	Lemoore	93245	Kings County	Lemoore Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 924-6800	405	21	19	74.1%	57 (14.1%)	14 (3.5%)	292 (72.1%)	15 (3.7%)	7 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (4.9%)								45.5	44.8	2839	10
063459005706	2830	Rachel Carson Elementary	Public	K-5	4245 Meg Dr.	San Jose	95136	Santa Clara County	San Jose Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 535-6287	196	12	16.1	44.4%	37 (18.9%)	9 (4.6%)	88 (44.9%)	39 (19.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (11.7%)	$12,799							45.4	46.4	2731	99

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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