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)
060744003373	2301	Clarence Lobo Elementary	Public	K-5	200 Avenida Vista Montana	San Clemente	92672	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 366-6740	357	17	21	51.3%	148 (41.5%)	1 (0.3%)	140 (39.2%)	5 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	62 (17.4%)	$10,606							54.7	57.9	2144	157
064023006652	2302	Apple Blossom	Public	K-5	700 Watertrough Rd.	Sebastopol	95472	Sonoma County	Twin Hills Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 823-1041	296	15	20.2	22.3%	199 (67.2%)	2 (0.7%)	71 (24.0%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (7.1%)	$8,653							54.7	66.7	1726	576
060962011323	2303	Clinton William Jefferson	Public	K-8	6500 Compton Blvd.	Compton	90221	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 630-7912	791	29	27.2	64.0%	1 (0.1%)	41 (5.2%)	741 (93.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.5%)								54.7	45.8	2770	467
060241412026	2304	River Oak Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	555 Leslie St.	Ukiah	95482	Mendocino County	River Oak Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 467-1855	236	10	23	41.9%	144 (61.0%)	2 (0.8%)	58 (24.6%)	11 (4.7%)	6 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (5.9%)								54.7	53.4	2374	70
060251714429	2305	California Connections Academy Monterey Bay	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	108 Whispering Pines Dr. Ste.	Scotts Valley	95066	Santa Cruz County	California Connections Academy Monterey Bay District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(831) 200-3419	476	11	43.1	36.1%	131 (27.5%)	3 (0.6%)	194 (40.8%)	68 (14.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	73 (15.3%)								54.6	73.7	1438	867
060699000645	2306	Grace Smith Elementary	Public	K-4	9 East Fourth St.	Niland	92257	Imperial County	Calipatria Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 359-0636	75	5	15	96.0%	11 (14.7%)	6 (8.0%)	56 (74.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.3%)	$11,408							54.6	31	3797	1491
061821008489	2307	T. L. Waggoner Elementary	Public	K-5	627 Joshua Tree St.	Imperial	92251	Imperial County	Imperial Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 355-3266	600	27	22.2	52.3%	42 (7.0%)	0 (0.0%)	542 (90.3%)	7 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	8 (1.3%)								54.6	60.6	2030	277
060639009329	2308	Panama Elementary	Public	K-6	9400 Stine Rd.	Bakersfield	93313	Kern County	Panama-Buena Vista Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 831-1741	797	30	26.5	79.8%	65 (8.2%)	33 (4.1%)	499 (62.6%)	68 (8.5%)	4 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	123 (15.4%)	$10,256							54.6	59.8	2061	247
060249714404	2309	Watsonville Prep	Public, Charter	K-8	407 Main St.	Watsonville	95076	Santa Cruz County	Watsonville Prep District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 217-4883	396	14	28.4	66.9%	5 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	384 (97.0%)	4 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.8%)								54.6	41.7	3023	714
060001609095	2310	Upland Elementary	Public	K-6	601 North Fifth Ave.	Upland	91786	San Bernardino County	Upland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 949-7800	419	18	23	87.1%	40 (9.5%)	28 (6.7%)	321 (76.6%)	10 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	18 (4.3%)	$11,946							54.6	45.9	2767	457

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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