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)
060636000555	771	Charles G. Emery Elementary	Public	K-5	8600 Somerset St.	Buena Park	90621	Orange County	Buena Park Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 521-5134	658	22	29.9	51.4%	37 (5.6%)	6 (0.9%)	184 (28.0%)	390 (59.3%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	39 (5.9%)	$7,644							88.6	88.7	782	11
062805004302	772	Montclair Elementary	Public	K-5	1757 Mountain Blvd.	Oakland	94611	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-3143	562	25	22.4	32.6%	186 (33.1%)	68 (12.1%)	122 (21.7%)	55 (9.8%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	127 (22.6%)	$5,532							88.6	93.2	494	278
060648000584	773	McKinley Elementary	Public	K-5	701 Paloma Ave.	Burlingame	94010	San Mateo County	Burlingame Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 259-3870	569	24	24.2	17.6%	149 (26.2%)	2 (0.4%)	178 (31.3%)	112 (19.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	125 (22.0%)	$9,984							88.6	90.6	671	102
060861011126	774	Salt Creek Elementary	Public	K-6	1055 Hunte Pkwy.	Chula Vista	91914	San Diego County	Chula Vista Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 397-5494	814	36	22.6	26.2%	124 (15.2%)	45 (5.5%)	412 (50.6%)	136 (16.7%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	95 (11.7%)	$8,486							88.6	88.5	797	23
063492014504	775	Beach Park Elementary	Public	K-5	1058 Shell Blvd.	Foster City	94404	San Mateo County	San Mateo-Foster City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 312-7490	286	14	20.4	15.7%	61 (21.3%)	1 (0.3%)	42 (14.7%)	151 (52.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.7%)	29 (10.1%)								88.6	89.9	716	59
060744008541	776	Tijeras Creek Elementary	Public	K-5	23072 Avenida Empresa	Rancho Santa Margarita	92688	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5300	318	13	24.4	19.2%	170 (53.5%)	2 (0.6%)	53 (16.7%)	35 (11.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (18.2%)	$9,429							88.6	94.4	396	380
062271003305	777	Richland Avenue Elementary	Public	K-7	11562 Richland Ave.	Los Angeles	90064	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 473-0467	252	12	21	14.7%	156 (61.9%)	16 (6.3%)	28 (11.1%)	11 (4.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	41 (16.3%)	$16,481							88.6	93.7	462	315
062490003721	778	Spring Valley Elementary	Public	K-5	817 Murchison Dr.	Millbrae	94030	San Mateo County	Millbrae Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 697-5681	382	14	27.4	19.1%	47 (12.3%)	1 (0.3%)	44 (11.5%)	237 (62.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.3%)	47 (12.3%)	$4,980							88.6	92.1	565	213
061233011726	779	Carroll Elementary	Public	K-6	10325 Stathos Dr.	Elk Grove	95757	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 714-0106	844	36	23.7	43.0%	101 (12.0%)	95 (11.3%)	159 (18.8%)	398 (47.2%)	1 (0.1%)	14 (1.7%)	76 (9.0%)	$6,384							88.6	83.2	1045	266
061026001119	780	Farragut Elementary	Public	K-5	10820 Farragut Dr.	Culver City	90230	Los Angeles County	Culver City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 842-4323	554	24	22.8	20.4%	219 (39.5%)	34 (6.1%)	102 (18.4%)	94 (17.0%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	102 (18.4%)	$5,314							88.6	93.3	483	297

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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

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