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)
062241013924	2311	Dr Bob Forinash Community Day	Public	7-12	320 North J St.	Lompoc	93436	Santa Barbara County	Lompoc Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 742-2940	26	6	4.1	100.0%	1 (3.8%)	2 (7.7%)	22 (84.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (3.8%)	$57,688							4.6	4.2	2330	19
060837012830	2312	Center for Alternative Learning	Public	6-12	290 East Ave.	Chico	95926	Butte County	Chico Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 891-3092	17	3	6.3	88.2%	8 (47.1%)	2 (11.8%)	2 (11.8%)	1 (5.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (5.9%)	3 (17.6%)	$10,814							4.6	8.5	2168	144
062334013848	2313	Ripperdan Community Day	Public	7-12	26133 Ave. 7	Madera	93637	Madera County	Madera Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 674-0059	45	6	7.2	100.0%	1 (2.2%)	2 (4.4%)	40 (88.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$4,893							4.6	4.8	2319	6
069103410658	2314	Santa Barbara County Community	Public	5-12	4400 Cathedral Oaks Rd.	Santa Barbara	93110	Santa Barbara County	Santa Barbara County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 967-5307	14	4	3.4	71.4%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$29,687							4.4	4.2	2330	16
069104207231	2315	Sutter County Special Education	Public, Alternative	K-12	970 Klamath Ln.	Yuba City	95993	Sutter County	Sutter County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 822-2900	313	27	11.4	64.2%	99 (31.6%)	8 (2.6%)	132 (42.2%)	51 (16.3%)	3 (1.0%)	1 (0.3%)	19 (6.1%)								4.2	5	2317	2
069101707126	2316	Gould Educational Center	Public, Alternative	K-12	117 West Dunham	Madera	93637	Madera County	Madera County Superintendent of Schools	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 674-0915	360	47	7.6	76.4%	62 (17.2%)	4 (1.1%)	273 (75.8%)	7 (1.9%)	3 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (3.1%)	$37,510							4	4.2	2329	13
069100209214	2317	Butte County Special Education	Public, Alternative	K-12	1859 Bird St.	Oroville	95965	Butte County	Butte County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 532-5740	61	7	9.1	72.1%	26 (42.6%)	1 (1.6%)	22 (36.1%)	4 (6.6%)	1 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (11.5%)	$8,649							3.9			(n/a)
061389007609	2318	Prospect Community Day	Public	7-12	2710 Kilgore Rd.	Rancho Cordova	95670	Sacramento County	Folsom-Cordova Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 294-9060	34	5	7.3	82.4%	5 (14.7%)	13 (38.2%)	12 (35.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (8.8%)	$23,121							3.9	4.1	2345	27
069100512486	2319	Mt. McKinley	Public	7-12	202 Glacier Dr.	Martinez	94553	Contra Costa County	Contra Costa County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 957-2767	36	4	8.8	91.7%	5 (13.9%)	17 (47.2%)	14 (38.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$29,313							3.8			(n/a)
069104214475	2319	Pathways Charter Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1895 Lassen Blvd.	Yuba City	95993	Sutter County	Sutter County Office of Education	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(530) 822-2480	25	1	28.4	88.0%	7 (28.0%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (68.0%)	1 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								3.8	8.7	2150	169

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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 Native American Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Foster Care Students Military Connected Students

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:

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.