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)
061551001970	401	Foothill Elementary	Public	K-6	711 Ribera Dr.	Santa Barbara	93111	Santa Barbara County	Goleta Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 681-1268	374	17	22	15.5%	198 (52.9%)	1 (0.3%)	98 (26.2%)	19 (5.1%)	4 (1.1%)	1 (0.3%)	52 (13.9%)	$14,218							94.3	94	426	25
063441005666	402	Clarendon Alternative Elementary	Public	K-5	500 Clarendon Ave.	San Francisco	94131	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 759-2796	523	20	26.3	17.0%	150 (28.7%)	19 (3.6%)	65 (12.4%)	152 (29.1%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	136 (26.0%)	$6,103							94.3	92.8	520	118
061422001632	403	Oka (Isojiro) Elementary	Public	K-5	9800 Yorktown Ave.	Huntington Beach	92646	Orange County	Fountain Valley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 378-4260	518	20	25.9	27.4%	230 (44.4%)	3 (0.6%)	142 (27.4%)	77 (14.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	64 (12.4%)	$10,995							94.3	90.4	685	282
062457003682	404	Encinal Elementary	Public	K-5	195 Encinal Ave.	Atherton	94027	San Mateo County	Menlo Park City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 326-5164	602	38	15.7	12.0%	256 (42.5%)	7 (1.2%)	151 (25.1%)	111 (18.4%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.7%)	67 (11.1%)	$9,110							94.3	95.4	322	82
062037002453	405	El Morro Elementary	Public	K-5	8681 North Coast Hwy.	Laguna Beach	92651	Orange County	Laguna Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 497-7780	416	23	18	23.3%	274 (65.9%)	4 (1.0%)	68 (16.3%)	21 (5.0%)	4 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (10.8%)	$22,338							94.3	95	355	50
061308003506	406	Ridgeview Elementary	Public	4-6	9177 Twin School Rd.	Granite Bay	95746	Placer County	Eureka Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 791-3477	515	18	28.7	6.8%	325 (63.1%)	8 (1.6%)	47 (9.1%)	76 (14.8%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	57 (11.1%)	$9,033							94.3	96	270	136
060744011267	407	Vista del Mar Elementary	Public	K-5	1130 Avenue Talega	San Clemente	92673	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5950	734	29	25.3	16.2%	517 (70.4%)	3 (0.4%)	100 (13.6%)	23 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	91 (12.4%)	$9,291							94.3	95.9	283	124
060807000773	408	Buena Terra Elementary	Public	K-6	8299 Holder St.	Buena Park	90620	Orange County	Centralia Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 228-3220	644	25	25.7	56.2%	122 (18.9%)	18 (2.8%)	262 (40.7%)	194 (30.1%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.2%)	40 (6.2%)	$8,002							94.3	93.9	439	31
060964007933	409	Lang Ranch	Public	K-5	2450 Whitechapel Pl.	Thousand Oaks	91362	Ventura County	Conejo Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 241-4417	675	31	21.7	13.3%	382 (56.6%)	7 (1.0%)	100 (14.8%)	124 (18.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	62 (9.2%)	$6,825							94.3	96.4	244	165
060744003361	410	Bathgate Elementary	Public	K-5	27642 Napoli Way	Mission Viejo	92692	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 348-0451	593	24	24.7	28.5%	299 (50.4%)	12 (2.0%)	98 (16.5%)	56 (9.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	125 (21.1%)	$9,417							94.3	91.5	604	194

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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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.