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)
060753000720	471	Carmel River Elementary	Public	K-5	Monte Verde St. and 15th Ave.	Carmel	93923	Monterey County	Carmel Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 624-4609	380	19	20	9.7%	232 (61.1%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (15.8%)	30 (7.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (15.3%)	$16,492							93.5	90.1	703	232
061524001925	472	Dunsmore Elementary	Public	K-6	4717 Dunsmore Ave.	La Crescenta	91214	Los Angeles County	Glendale Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 248-1758	570	26	21.9	26.1%	216 (37.9%)	2 (0.4%)	60 (10.5%)	171 (30.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	121 (21.2%)	$6,432							93.5	95.4	325	147
062785009415	473	Oak Hills Elementary	Public	K-5	1010 Kanan Rd.	Oak Park	91377	Ventura County	Oak Park Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 707-4224	511	21	24.3	13.3%	269 (52.6%)	5 (1.0%)	61 (11.9%)	144 (28.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (6.1%)								93.5	95.4	328	145
061389010294	474	Folsom Hills Elementary	Public	K-5	106 Manseau Dr.	Folsom	95630	Sacramento County	Folsom-Cordova Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 294-9135	473	21	22.9	8.0%	246 (52.0%)	4 (0.8%)	89 (18.8%)	64 (13.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	69 (14.6%)	$6,744							93.5	93.6	468	6
062865008246	475	Running Springs Academy	Public	K-8	8670 East Running Springs Dr.	Anaheim	92808	Orange County	Orange Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 281-4512	622	24	25.4	32.0%	200 (32.2%)	12 (1.9%)	192 (30.9%)	148 (23.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	69 (11.1%)	$5,003							93.5	88.3	807	332
062805004275	476	Hillcrest	Public	K-8	30 Marguerite Dr.	Oakland	94618	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-5127	376	17	22.2	26.1%	149 (39.6%)	38 (10.1%)	48 (12.8%)	44 (11.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	96 (25.5%)	$5,430							93.4	94.5	394	82
062970004618	477	Point Vicente Elementary	Public	K-5	30540 Rue de La Pierre	Rancho Palos Verdes	90275	Los Angeles County	Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 377-6972	335	18	19	16.4%	109 (32.5%)	11 (3.3%)	51 (15.2%)	116 (34.6%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	46 (13.7%)	$6,712							93.4	92.2	561	84
060903012029	478	Bud Rank Elementary	Public	K-6	3650 Powers Ave.	Clovis	93619	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-4900	666	29	23	19.7%	297 (44.6%)	24 (3.6%)	200 (30.0%)	94 (14.1%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	46 (6.9%)	$4,384							93.4	92.4	544	66
063066009613	479	Mabel M. Paine Elementary	Public	K-5	4444 Plumosa Dr.	Yorba Linda	92886	Orange County	Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 986-7210	424	17	24.9	31.8%	118 (27.8%)	0 (0.0%)	121 (28.5%)	158 (37.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	25 (5.9%)	$8,047							93.4	90	712	233
064032006672	480	Guadalupe Elementary	Public	K-5	6044 Vera Cruz Dr.	San Jose	95120	Santa Clara County	Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 268-1030	547	22	24.8	6.9%	154 (28.2%)	1 (0.2%)	62 (11.3%)	279 (51.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	50 (9.1%)	$7,778							93.4	93.6	467	13

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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

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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