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)
060303007262	1911	Mad River High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	1300 Murray Rd.	McKinleyville	95521	Humboldt County	Northern Humboldt Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 839-6480	29	2	12.9	86.2%	18 (62.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (10.3%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (10.3%)	1 (3.4%)	4 (13.8%)	$13,174							11.7	13	1901	10
060249114406	1912	Pathways Academy Charter School - Adult Education	Public, Virtual, Charter	9-12	26025 Newport Rd.	Menifee	92584	Riverside County	Pathways Academy Charter School - Adult Education District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(619) 371-5017	179	4	47.3	33.0%	34 (19.0%)	27 (15.1%)	90 (50.3%)	4 (2.2%)	3 (1.7%)	1 (0.6%)	18 (10.1%)								11.7			(n/a)
060182912427	1913	Big Picture Educational Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1207 South Trinity St.	Fresno	93706	Fresno County	Big Picture Educational Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 420-1234	494	28	17.3	59.3%	27 (5.5%)	70 (14.2%)	375 (75.9%)	6 (1.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (2.8%)								11.7	14.7	1847	66
060175114291	1914	Mojave River Academy - Marble City	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	9723 Sierra Vista Rd.	Phelan	92371	San Bernardino County	Mojave River Academy - Marble City District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 245-3222	183	8	22.4	83.1%	59 (32.2%)	8 (4.4%)	106 (57.9%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (4.4%)								11.7	15.3	1823	91
062423007779	1915	McFarland Independent	Public, Alternative	K-12	599 Fifth St.	Mc Farland	93250	Kern County	McFarland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 792-6312	14	2	7.7	78.6%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,526							11.7			(n/a)
060016012074	1916	Yosemite Falls Education Center	Public, Alternative	K-12	50200 Road 427	Oakhurst	93644	Madera County	Yosemite Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 683-8801	83	4	20.3	47.0%	56 (67.5%)	1 (1.2%)	21 (25.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.6%)	$5,748							11.7	14.6	1850	66
061821002242	1917	Imperial Ave. Holbrook High	Public	9-12	322 North Imperial Ave.	Imperial	92251	Imperial County	Imperial Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 355-3207	50	1	34	74.0%	1 (2.0%)	1 (2.0%)	48 (96.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								11.6	13.7	1879	38
069102711052	1918	Elinor Lincoln Hickey Junior/Senior High	Public	7-12	2040 Ethan Way	Sacramento	95825	Sacramento County	Sacramento County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 228-2074	286	14	20.4	65.0%	69 (24.1%)	72 (25.2%)	93 (32.5%)	14 (4.9%)	1 (0.3%)	5 (1.7%)	32 (11.2%)	$13,692							11.6	8.5	2167	249
069100509217	1919	Floyd I. Marchus	Public, Alternative	K-12	2900 Avon Ave.	Concord	94520	Contra Costa County	Contra Costa County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 602-3421	46	9	5.1	37.0%	18 (39.1%)	11 (23.9%)	14 (30.4%)	3 (6.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$62,586							11.6	8.9	2140	221
060981014286	1920	Corning Independent Study	Public	9-12	250 East Fig Ln.	Corning	96021	Tehama County	Corning Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 824-7400	28	1	21.8	60.7%	11 (39.3%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (60.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,667							11.5			(n/a)

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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

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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