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)
060002810282	991	Red Hawk Elementary	Public	K-5	32045 Camino San Jose	Temecula	92592	Riverside County	Temecula Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 302-5125	536	22	24.3	45.3%	136 (25.4%)	14 (2.6%)	247 (46.1%)	79 (14.7%)	5 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (10.3%)	$10,066							84	83.2	1046	55
060254114490	992	American River Collegiate Academy	Public, Charter	K-4	7755 Hazel Ave.	Orangevale	95662	Sacramento County	American River Collegiate Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 672-3550	105	6	16.7	37.1%	48 (45.7%)	4 (3.8%)	28 (26.7%)	7 (6.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (17.1%)								84			(n/a)
062961007802	993	Barron Park Elementary	Public	K-5	800 Barron Ave.	Palo Alto	94306	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 858-0508	229	13	17.4	26.2%	64 (27.9%)	0 (0.0%)	59 (25.8%)	75 (32.8%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.7%)	27 (11.8%)	$20,964							84	87.6	843	150
060002906282	994	Tovashal Elementary	Public	K-5	23801 St. Raphael Dr.	Murrieta	92562	Riverside County	Murrieta Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 696-1411	761	28	26.7	55.6%	248 (32.6%)	28 (3.7%)	328 (43.1%)	47 (6.2%)	3 (0.4%)	10 (1.3%)	97 (12.7%)								84	81	1130	136
063441005647	995	McKinley Elementary	Public	K-5	1025 14th St.	San Francisco	94114	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 241-6300	247	13	19.7	29.6%	112 (45.3%)	17 (6.9%)	50 (20.2%)	23 (9.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (18.2%)	$5,747							83.9	90.4	687	308
064245006943	996	Mill School and Technology Academy	Public	K-5	4030 South Workman Mill Rd.	Whittier	90601	Los Angeles County	Whittier City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 789-3190	318	14	22.8	66.7%	11 (3.5%)	4 (1.3%)	280 (88.1%)	11 (3.5%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (3.5%)	$4,873							83.9	76.5	1303	307
063441005648	997	Miraloma Elementary	Public	K-5	175 Omar Way	San Francisco	94127	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 469-4734	350	17	21.2	30.9%	146 (41.7%)	8 (2.3%)	61 (17.4%)	54 (15.4%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	80 (22.9%)	$6,103							83.9	88.7	780	217
060564000515	998	Bonny Doon Elementary	Public	K-6	1492 Pine Flat Rd.	Santa Cruz	95060	Santa Cruz County	Bonny Doon Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 427-2300	97	7	13.8	25.8%	73 (75.3%)	1 (1.0%)	13 (13.4%)	3 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (7.2%)	$11,439							83.9	62.6	1919	921
061389008575	999	Mather Heights Elementary	Public	K-5	4370 Mather School Rd.	Mather	95655	Sacramento County	Folsom-Cordova Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 294-2440	279	15	19.2	38.0%	115 (41.2%)	8 (2.9%)	65 (23.3%)	35 (12.5%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	54 (19.4%)	$6,521							83.9	78.7	1219	220
063480005882	1000	C L Smith Elementary	Public	K-6	1375 Balboa St.	San Luis Obispo	93405	San Luis Obispo County	San Luis Coastal Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 596-4094	484	22	22	56.0%	226 (46.7%)	10 (2.1%)	187 (38.6%)	24 (5.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (7.4%)	$13,777							83.9	71.1	1532	532

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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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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