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)
062664004024	1511	Northwood Elementary	Public	K-5	2214 Berks St.	Napa	94558	Napa County	Napa Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 253-3471	370	16	23.1	49.7%	174 (47.0%)	2 (0.5%)	156 (42.2%)	7 (1.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (8.1%)	$6,838							71.7	64.2	1835	324
063462002560	1512	Gold River Discovery Center K-8	Public	K-8	2200 Roaring Camp Dr.	Gold River	95670	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 971-5349	699	31	22.6	28.9%	396 (56.7%)	26 (3.7%)	130 (18.6%)	62 (8.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.0%)	78 (11.2%)	$6,053							71.7	75.5	1356	156
060903010484	1513	Freedom Elementary	Public	K-6	2955 Gettysburg Ave.	Clovis	93611	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-4800	697	28	24.5	37.3%	257 (36.9%)	21 (3.0%)	217 (31.1%)	164 (23.5%)	6 (0.9%)	1 (0.1%)	31 (4.4%)	$4,446							71.7	71.6	1511	2
061551001969	1514	Ellwood Elementary	Public	K-6	7686 Hollister Ave.	Goleta	93117	Santa Barbara County	Goleta Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 571-3774	341	19	18.4	36.4%	105 (30.8%)	0 (0.0%)	181 (53.1%)	21 (6.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (9.7%)	$14,427							71.6	79.1	1198	316
063462005805	1515	Orangevale Open K-8	Public	K-8	5630 Illinois Ave.	Fair Oaks	95628	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 979-8067	572	23	25.3	22.4%	416 (72.7%)	4 (0.7%)	95 (16.6%)	17 (3.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (6.8%)	$5,694							71.6	73.2	1453	62
061062001175	1516	Birch Lane Elementary	Public	K-6	1600 Birch Ln.	Davis	95616	Yolo County	Davis Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 757-5395	555	24	23.2	18.6%	287 (51.7%)	14 (2.5%)	95 (17.1%)	89 (16.0%)	6 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (11.4%)								71.6	78.8	1214	302
061187001327	1517	Lee Vining Elementary	Public	K-8	132 Lee Vining Ave.	Lee Vining	93541	Mono County	Eastern Sierra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 647-6460	100	6	18	34.0%	52 (52.0%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (47.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.0%)								71.6	57	2183	666
063492005907	1518	Highlands Elementary	Public	K-5	2320 Newport St.	San Mateo	94402	San Mateo County	San Mateo-Foster City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 312-7544	385	18	21.3	19.2%	102 (26.5%)	0 (0.0%)	111 (28.8%)	111 (28.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	60 (15.6%)	$7,061							71.6	80.5	1153	365
062271003411	1519	Two Hundred Thirty-Second Place Elementary	Public	K-5	23240 Archibald Ave.	Carson	90745	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 830-8710	411	19	21.6	56.7%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$11,352							71.6	68.6	1643	124
062271003366	1520	South Shores/CSUDH Visual and Performing Arts	Public	K-5	2060 West 35th St.	San Pedro	90732	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 832-6596	439	18	24.3	49.9%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,529							71.5	68.1	1666	146

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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