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)
062547003812	3271	Washington Elementary	Public	K-5	1400 West Madison Ave.	Montebello	90640	Los Angeles County	Montebello Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 721-3621	716	38	19	73.2%	8 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	694 (96.9%)	6 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.1%)	$6,749							38.4	39.5	3169	102
061495002880	3272	Grand Oaks Elementary	Public	K-5	5309 Grand Ave.	Shasta Lake	96019	Shasta County	Gateway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 275-7040	315	16	20.3	83.2%	220 (69.8%)	2 (0.6%)	43 (13.7%)	6 (1.9%)	11 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (10.5%)	$9,912							38.4	46.7	2710	562
062271002945	3273	Christopher Dena Elementary	Public	K-6	1314 Dacotah St.	Los Angeles	90023	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 269-9222	337	19	17.7	93.8%	3 (0.9%)	9 (2.7%)	321 (95.3%)	3 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$11,346							38.4	43.9	2892	381
061209001359	3274	Shirpser Elementary	Public	K-6	4020 North Gibson Rd.	El Monte	91731	Los Angeles County	El Monte City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 575-2393	475	23	20.6	87.8%	2 (0.4%)	5 (1.1%)	440 (92.6%)	28 (5.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$7,059							38.4	34.7	3524	250
061692014611	3275	Hemet Dual Language Academy	Public	K-8	26400 Dartmouth St.	Hemet	92544	Riverside County	Hemet Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 927-8676	422	22	19.6	82.5%	19 (4.5%)	7 (1.7%)	385 (91.2%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.1%)								38.4	35.1	3499	224
063987006612	3276	Garden Elementary	Public	K-6	640 East Pleasant Ave.	Tulare	93274	Tulare County	Tulare City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 685-7330	661	29	23.1	71.3%	136 (20.6%)	19 (2.9%)	481 (72.8%)	8 (1.2%)	4 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (2.0%)	$10,580							38.3	32.4	3700	424
064188003327	3277	Pioneer Elementary	Public	K-5	2950 Gerard Ave.	Merced	95341	Merced County	Weaver Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 725-7111	1,062	53	19.9	80.1%	85 (8.0%)	43 (4.0%)	752 (70.8%)	116 (10.9%)	5 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	60 (5.6%)								38.3	34	3576	299
061347001535	3278	Fall River Elementary	Public	K-6	24977 Curve St.	Fall River Mills	96028	Shasta County	Fall River Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 336-5551	269	16	16.9	53.2%	114 (42.4%)	0 (0.0%)	92 (34.2%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (4.8%)	1 (0.4%)	49 (18.2%)	$6,404							38.3	45.8	2772	506
063462005820	3279	Skycrest Elementary	Public	K-5	5641 Mariposa Ave.	Citrus Heights	95610	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 867-2098	409	18	22.7	68.9%	184 (45.0%)	20 (4.9%)	163 (39.9%)	16 (3.9%)	2 (0.5%)	3 (0.7%)	21 (5.1%)	$9,690							38.3	48.9	2588	691
060175414060	3280	Scholarship Prep - Orange County	Public, Charter	K-8	1010 West 17th St.	Santa Ana	92706	Orange County	Scholarship Prep - Orange County District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 795-3498	657	24	27.4	92.5%	5 (0.8%)	7 (1.1%)	626 (95.3%)	10 (1.5%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	5 (0.8%)								38.3	32.1	3721	441

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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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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

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