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)
063066004774	1101	Van Buren Elementary	Public	K-6	1245 North Van Buren St.	Placentia	92870	Orange County	Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 986-7100	540	22	24.5	47.8%	171 (31.7%)	6 (1.1%)	251 (46.5%)	74 (13.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	37 (6.9%)	$5,949							81.2	83	1053	48
061581012452	1102	Gratton Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	4500 South Gratton Rd.	Denair	95316	Stanislaus County	Gratton Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 632-0505	119	5	23.8	15.1%	92 (77.3%)	1 (0.8%)	23 (19.3%)	2 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	$13,339							81.2	88.2	811	291
063480005869	1103	Bishop's Peak Elementary	Public	K-6	451 Jaycee Dr.	San Luis Obispo	93405	San Luis Obispo County	San Luis Coastal Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 596-4030	369	16	23	26.8%	246 (66.7%)	1 (0.3%)	62 (16.8%)	24 (6.5%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	34 (9.2%)	$11,697							81.2	76.6	1295	192
062250002738	1104	Los Cerritos Elementary	Public	K-5	515 West San Antonio Dr.	Long Beach	90807	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 595-6337	459	16	28.6	35.1%	68 (14.8%)	65 (14.2%)	175 (38.1%)	99 (21.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.9%)	48 (10.5%)	$7,114							81.2	87.6	841	263
061233011060	1105	Arlene Hein Elementary	Public	K-6	6820 Bellaterra Dr.	Elk Grove	95757	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 714-0654	846	34	24.8	30.3%	142 (16.8%)	67 (7.9%)	169 (20.0%)	356 (42.1%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (1.3%)	101 (11.9%)	$6,462							81.2	83.8	1008	97
064098006761	1106	Pierpont Elementary	Public	K-5	1254 Marthas Vineyard Ct.	Ventura	93001	Ventura County	Ventura Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 641-5470	289	11	26.2	35.3%	189 (65.4%)	2 (0.7%)	65 (22.5%)	8 (2.8%)	2 (0.7%)	1 (0.3%)	22 (7.6%)	$6,846							81.1	69	1618	512
060001303571	1107	Breen Elementary	Public	K-6	2751 Breen Dr.	Rocklin	95765	Placer County	Rocklin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 632-1155	404	17	23.4	15.3%	223 (55.2%)	6 (1.5%)	77 (19.1%)	42 (10.4%)	4 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (12.9%)	$6,456							81.1	79.4	1189	82
060186813748	1108	Rising Sun Montessori	Public, Charter	K-8	4940 Robert J. Mathews Pkwy.	El Dorado Hills	95762	El Dorado County	Rising Sun Montessori District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 936-2333	135	7	19.2	31.1%	57 (42.2%)	1 (0.7%)	28 (20.7%)	36 (26.7%)	3 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (7.4%)								81.1	79.1	1199	91
060001609091	1109	Magnolia Elementary	Public	K-6	465 West 15th St.	Upland	91786	San Bernardino County	Upland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 949-7750	524	22	24.2	42.2%	185 (35.3%)	12 (2.3%)	258 (49.2%)	37 (7.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (6.1%)	$11,168							81	84.2	990	119
060744000691	1110	Carl Hankey Elementary	Public	K-5	27252 Nubles St.	Mission Viejo	92692	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5315	321	13	24.6	49.2%	114 (35.5%)	2 (0.6%)	133 (41.4%)	24 (7.5%)	2 (0.6%)	1 (0.3%)	45 (14.0%)	$8,584							81	81.6	1111	1

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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.