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)
063543006034	2391	Bracher Elementary	Public	K-5	2700 Chromite Dr.	Santa Clara	95051	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-1200	263	14	19.4	40.3%	29 (11.0%)	11 (4.2%)	131 (49.8%)	67 (25.5%)	1 (0.4%)	5 (1.9%)	19 (7.2%)	$13,100							53.1	47.3	2676	285
060133204153	2392	Hazel Strauch Elementary	Public	K-6	3141 Northstead Dr.	Sacramento	95833	Sacramento County	Twin Rivers Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 566-2745	590	23	25.6	84.9%	28 (4.7%)	57 (9.7%)	397 (67.3%)	48 (8.1%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (2.0%)	48 (8.1%)								53.1	46.8	2708	316
062825004373	2393	Santa Margarita Elementary	Public	K-8	1 Carnes Rd.	Oceanside	92058	San Diego County	Oceanside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 901-7900	556	25	22.6	64.7%	203 (36.5%)	35 (6.3%)	241 (43.3%)	19 (3.4%)	2 (0.4%)	7 (1.3%)	49 (8.8%)	$12,675							53.1	68.9	1629	764
062943004533	2394	Pacific Union Elementary	Public	K-8	3001 Janes Rd.	Arcata	95521	Humboldt County	Pacific Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 822-4619	529	29	18.1	57.1%	267 (50.5%)	13 (2.5%)	144 (27.2%)	6 (1.1%)	28 (5.3%)	0 (0.0%)	68 (12.9%)	$9,700							53	53.1	2387	7
062825009597	2395	Christa McAuliffe Elementary	Public	K-5	3701 Kelton Dr.	Oceanside	92056	San Diego County	Oceanside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 901-8400	518	22	23.4	60.2%	171 (33.0%)	12 (2.3%)	256 (49.4%)	17 (3.3%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.8%)	57 (11.0%)	$11,784							53	46.6	2723	328
062223008617	2396	Joe Serna Junior Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	4620 East Acampo Rd.	Acampo	95220	San Joaquin County	Lodi Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 331-7809	366	19	19.5	79.0%	51 (13.9%)	2 (0.5%)	301 (82.2%)	4 (1.1%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.6%)	$9,751							53	57.7	2160	236
060994013725	2397	University Elementary at La Fiesta	Public	K-5	8511 Liman Way	Rohnert Park	94928	Sonoma County	Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 792-4840	265	11	24.3	46.0%	112 (42.3%)	1 (0.4%)	122 (46.0%)	7 (2.6%)	4 (1.5%)	1 (0.4%)	18 (6.8%)	$8,219							52.9	41.7	3024	627
060196114103	2398	Pacific Coast Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	13915 Danielson St. #103	Poway	92064	San Diego County	Pacific Coast Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(619) 749-1928	5,612	161	34.8	38.9%	2,909 (51.8%)	73 (1.3%)	1,735 (30.9%)	224 (4.0%)	25 (0.4%)	14 (0.2%)	629 (11.2%)								52.9	53.8	2353	45
063432005408	2399	Alcott Elementary	Public	K-5	4680 Hidalgo Ave.	San Diego	92117	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 605-1200	226	10	22.6	50.0%	100 (44.2%)	3 (1.3%)	95 (42.0%)	6 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (9.7%)	$22,625							52.9	75.4	1357	1042
062553003820	2400	J. C. Crumpton Elementary	Public	K-6	460 Carmel Ave.	Marina	93933	Monterey County	Monterey Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 392-3520	497	25	19.5	52.7%	78 (15.7%)	31 (6.2%)	257 (51.7%)	61 (12.3%)	1 (0.2%)	11 (2.2%)	58 (11.7%)	$5,005							52.9	44.3	2866	466

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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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.