Best High Schools in California

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Find the best California high 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 2323)	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)
060164711849	791	Impact Academy of Arts & Technology	Public, Charter	6-12	2560 Darwin St.	Hayward	94545	Alameda County	Impact Academy of Arts & Technology District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 300-1560	760	31	24.4	59.7%	29 (3.8%)	29 (3.8%)	491 (64.6%)	133 (17.5%)	1 (0.1%)	35 (4.6%)	42 (5.5%)								53.3	55.2	757	34
062211008877	792	Vineyard Alternative	Public, Alternative	K-12	1401 Almond Ave.	Livermore	94550	Alameda County	Livermore Valley Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 606-4722	110	11	9.5	33.6%	44 (40.0%)	2 (1.8%)	43 (39.1%)	6 (5.5%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (12.7%)	$12,295							53.2	66	541	251
061954011297	793	Golden Valley High	Public	9-12	801 Hosking Ave.	Bakersfield	93307	Kern County	Kern High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 827-0800	2,365	98	24.1	92.1%	99 (4.2%)	128 (5.4%)	2,054 (86.8%)	61 (2.6%)	4 (0.2%)	1 (0.0%)	16 (0.7%)	$7,993							53.2	47	937	144
063025005439	794	Valley Oaks High (Alternative)	Public	7-12	540 Vallejo St.	Petaluma	94952	Sonoma County	Petaluma Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 778-4794	39	3	12.7	43.6%	23 (59.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (15.4%)	2 (5.1%)	1 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (10.3%)	$11,725							53.2	46.8	947	153
063888006529	795	Tehachapi High	Public	9-12	801 South Dennison Rd.	Tehachapi	93561	Kern County	Tehachapi Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 822-2130	1,262	54	23.5	37.6%	724 (57.4%)	18 (1.4%)	448 (35.5%)	19 (1.5%)	7 (0.6%)	3 (0.2%)	41 (3.2%)	$4,914							53.1	46.6	954	159
062271012720	796	Soc Just Leadership Academy at Esteban E. Torres High #5	Public	9-12	4211 Dozier St.	Los Angeles	90063	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 265-6865	147	12	12.3	95.9%	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.4%)	145 (98.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,439							53.1	46.8	946	150
060330010317	797	Atascadero Choices in Education Academy (ACE)	Public	9-12	10801 El Camino Real	Atascadero	93422	San Luis Obispo County	Atascadero Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 462-4350	166	6	29.9	39.8%	113 (68.1%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (25.3%)	2 (1.2%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (4.8%)	$10,065							53.1	58.5	682	115
062271003052	798	Ulysses S. Grant Senior High	Public	9-12	13000 Oxnard St.	Van Nuys	91401	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 756-2700	1,798	85	21	96.2%	668 (37.2%)	46 (2.6%)	992 (55.2%)	51 (2.8%)	6 (0.3%)	4 (0.2%)	31 (1.7%)	$11,004							53.1	54	785	13
060253014479	799	Griffin Academy High	Public, Charter	9-12	233 Hobbs Ave.	Vallejo	94589	Solano County	Griffin Academy High District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 552-6482	178	11	15.8	60.1%	13 (7.3%)	32 (18.0%)	86 (48.3%)	26 (14.6%)	2 (1.1%)	2 (1.1%)	17 (9.6%)								53.1	51.1	838	39
060816000795	800	Ontario High	Public	9-12	901 West Francis St.	Ontario	91762	San Bernardino County	Chaffey Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 988-7411	2,121	96	22.2	87.4%	54 (2.5%)	46 (2.2%)	1,882 (88.7%)	75 (3.5%)	20 (0.9%)	6 (0.3%)	37 (1.7%)	$9,919							53	51	842	42

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

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About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on CAST Science, Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 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

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

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