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)
061296010361	171	John L. Golden Elementary	Public	K-5	12400 Banyan St.	Etiwanda	91739	San Bernardino County	Etiwanda Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 463-9105	912	37	24.3	33.3%	179 (19.6%)	37 (4.1%)	233 (25.5%)	390 (42.8%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (7.6%)	$5,675							96.9	96.6	221	50
063429013998	172	Arroyo	Public	4-5	1710 Arroyo Ave.	San Carlos	94070	San Mateo County	San Carlos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 632-8300	277	14	20.3	8.3%	154 (55.6%)	0 (0.0%)	35 (12.6%)	35 (12.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	52 (18.8%)	$11,440							96.9	96.9	201	29
060744011248	173	Ladera Ranch Elementary	Public	K-5	29551 Sienna Pkwy.	Ladera Ranch	92694	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5915	605	24	25.2	23.0%	358 (59.2%)	5 (0.8%)	83 (13.7%)	77 (12.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	81 (13.4%)	$9,460							96.9	95	353	180
061488001825	174	Loyal Barker Elementary	Public	K-6	12565 Springdale St.	Garden Grove	92845	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6164	470	22	21.7	31.9%	167 (35.5%)	5 (1.1%)	121 (25.7%)	110 (23.4%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	65 (13.8%)	$11,683							96.9	93.7	459	285
063441012487	175	Chinese Immersion School at DeAvila	Public	K-5	1250 Waller St.	San Francisco	94117	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 241-6325	376	17	22.7	30.1%	20 (5.3%)	5 (1.3%)	13 (3.5%)	275 (73.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (16.8%)								96.9	95.8	286	111
061029008815	176	L. P. Collins Elementary	Public	K-5	10300 Blaney Ave.	Cupertino	95014	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 252-6002	473	19	24.9	12.5%	32 (6.8%)	4 (0.8%)	18 (3.8%)	390 (82.5%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (5.7%)	$6,268							96.9	98.5	53	123
061440008138	177	Ardenwood Elementary	Public	K-5	33955 Emilia Ln.	Fremont	94555	Alameda County	Fremont Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 794-0392	778	29	26.8	14.3%	40 (5.1%)	17 (2.2%)	64 (8.2%)	620 (79.7%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (4.4%)	$6,565							96.9	98.4	61	116
061488001871	178	Patton Elementary	Public	K-6	6861 Santa Rita Ave.	Garden Grove	92845	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6584	872	32	27.6	35.6%	210 (24.1%)	4 (0.5%)	201 (23.1%)	364 (41.7%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	89 (10.2%)	$11,503							96.9	97.6	134	44
068450007598	179	Canyon View Elementary	Public	K-6	12025 Yale Ct.	Irvine	92620	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6900	734	26	28.5	10.9%	110 (15.0%)	3 (0.4%)	61 (8.3%)	487 (66.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	71 (9.7%)	$5,609							96.8	97.9	106	73
063750006332	180	Arroyo Vista Elementary	Public	K-5	335 El Centro St.	South Pasadena	91030	Los Angeles County	South Pasadena Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 441-5840	721	29	24.5	16.6%	216 (30.0%)	6 (0.8%)	148 (20.5%)	226 (31.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	124 (17.2%)	$11,159							96.8	96.4	242	62

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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

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

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