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)
063750006334	281	Monterey Hills Elementary	Public	K-5	1624 Via del Rey	South Pasadena	91030	Los Angeles County	South Pasadena Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 441-5860	586	25	23	14.8%	107 (18.3%)	11 (1.9%)	181 (30.9%)	174 (29.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	111 (18.9%)	$11,046							95.8	94.5	393	112
063099010710	282	La Mariposa	Public	K-5	4800 Corte Olivas	Camarillo	93012	Ventura County	Pleasant Valley	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 383-5315	555	22	25.2	22.3%	197 (35.5%)	9 (1.6%)	206 (37.1%)	89 (16.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	52 (9.4%)	$7,307							95.8	93.6	466	184
060453004019	283	Cipriani Elementary	Public	K-5	2525 Buena Vista	Belmont	94002	San Mateo County	Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 637-4840	471	19	25.4	6.2%	167 (35.5%)	2 (0.4%)	49 (10.4%)	152 (32.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	100 (21.2%)	$11,577							95.8	94.9	361	78
063153004897	284	Tierra Bonita Elementary	Public	K-5	14678 Tierra Bonita Rd.	Poway	92064	San Diego County	Poway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 748-8540	380	17	22.7	10.8%	242 (63.7%)	3 (0.8%)	65 (17.1%)	21 (5.5%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (12.4%)	$7,508							95.8	94.2	414	130
060561010235	285	Oak Mesa Elementary	Public	K-5	5200 Wheeler Ave.	La Verne	91750	Los Angeles County	Bonita Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 971-8209	566	23	24.3	13.8%	208 (36.7%)	5 (0.9%)	179 (31.6%)	118 (20.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	55 (9.7%)								95.7	94	431	146
068450007065	286	Stone Creek Elementary	Public	K-6	2 Stone Creek South	Irvine	92604	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 551-1201	460	16	28.8	13.3%	153 (33.3%)	3 (0.7%)	62 (13.5%)	184 (40.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	57 (12.4%)	$5,660							95.7	97.1	175	111
062865004443	287	Panorama Elementary	Public	K-6	10512 Crawford Canyon Rd.	Santa Ana	92705	Orange County	Orange Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 997-6265	410	15	26.7	30.7%	192 (46.8%)	10 (2.4%)	129 (31.5%)	47 (11.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	31 (7.6%)	$5,301							95.7	95.9	280	7
064032006669	288	Carlton Elementary	Public	K-5	2421 Carlton Ave.	San Jose	95124	Santa Clara County	Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 356-1141	672	24	28.5	4.6%	228 (33.9%)	8 (1.2%)	73 (10.9%)	290 (43.2%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	72 (10.7%)	$6,481							95.7	97.4	154	134
063877006512	289	Donner Trail Elementary	Public	K-5	52755 Donner Pass Rd.	Truckee	96161	Nevada County	Tahoe-Truckee Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 582-2720	55	3	18.2	5.5%	48 (87.3%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (5.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (5.5%)	$17,623							95.7			(n/a)
060001906929	290	Dublin Elementary	Public	K-5	7997 Vomac Rd.	Dublin	94568	Alameda County	Dublin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 833-1204	844	31	27.5	8.3%	165 (19.5%)	9 (1.1%)	125 (14.8%)	431 (51.1%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	111 (13.2%)	$7,051							95.7	93.9	448	158

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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

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.