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)
060015812175	1071	Walnut Elementary Education Center	Public	K-6	4219 North Walnut Rd.	Turlock	95382	Stanislaus County	Turlock Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 664-9907	899	35	25.5	37.7%	415 (46.2%)	8 (0.9%)	266 (29.6%)	155 (17.2%)	3 (0.3%)	3 (0.3%)	49 (5.5%)	$10,058							82	84.6	973	98
061647002079	1072	Jefferson Academy	Public	K-8	1264 Middleton St.	Hanford	93230	Kings County	Hanford Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 585-3700	492	18	27.3	51.4%	54 (11.0%)	5 (1.0%)	416 (84.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (3.3%)	$9,417							82	68.9	1623	551
060001609097	1073	Valencia Elementary	Public	K-6	541 West 22nd St.	Upland	91784	San Bernardino County	Upland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 949-7830	610	25	24.2	42.6%	272 (44.6%)	11 (1.8%)	222 (36.4%)	79 (13.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	23 (3.8%)	$11,028							81.9	76.4	1306	233
062025002428	1074	Fletcher Hills Elementary	Public	K-6	2330 Center Pl.	El Cajon	92020	San Diego County	La Mesa-Spring Valley	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 668-5820	612	24	26	33.5%	319 (52.1%)	18 (2.9%)	189 (30.9%)	24 (3.9%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.7%)	57 (9.3%)	$5,434							81.9	80.1	1166	92
060645000569	1075	Thomas Jefferson Elementary	Public	K-5	1900 North Sixth St.	Burbank	91504	Los Angeles County	Burbank Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 729-1600	749	29	26.2	20.4%	431 (57.5%)	6 (0.8%)	80 (10.7%)	112 (15.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	119 (15.9%)	$10,410							81.9	82.4	1076	1
061288011131	1076	Bernardo Elementary	Public	K-5	1122 Mountain Heights Dr.	Escondido	92029	San Diego County	Escondido Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 432-2700	631	34	18.8	25.2%	280 (44.4%)	5 (0.8%)	203 (32.2%)	57 (9.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	86 (13.6%)	$8,110							81.9	78.8	1211	135
062934004525	1077	Pacific Elementary	Public	K-6	50 Ocean St.	Davenport	95017	Santa Cruz County	Pacific Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 425-7002	167	8	20.3	33.5%	100 (59.9%)	2 (1.2%)	42 (25.1%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (13.2%)	$11,207							81.8	82.6	1071	6
063386005294	1078	Del Cerro Elementary	Public	K-6	24382 Regina St.	Mission Viejo	92691	Orange County	Saddleback Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 830-5430	381	18	21.5	47.5%	167 (43.8%)	1 (0.3%)	114 (29.9%)	47 (12.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	51 (13.4%)	$5,329							81.7	87.8	833	245
063597006158	1079	Rosedell Elementary	Public	K-6	27853 Urbandale Ave.	Saugus	91350	Los Angeles County	Saugus Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 294-5335	662	25	26.4	46.4%	274 (41.4%)	9 (1.4%)	287 (43.4%)	41 (6.2%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (7.4%)	$9,868							81.7	72.7	1475	396
063315010030	1080	Benjamin Franklin Elementary	Public	K-6	19661 Orange Terrace Pkwy.	Riverside	92508	Riverside County	Riverside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 571-6502	799	33	24.2	24.4%	244 (30.5%)	47 (5.9%)	338 (42.3%)	116 (14.5%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	50 (6.3%)	$7,016							81.7	80.9	1137	57

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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.