Best Elementary Schools in California

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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)
062013009386	21	Palm Crest Elementary	Public	K-6	5025 Palm Dr.	La Canada	91011	Los Angeles County	La Canada Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 952-8360	604	27	22.4	4.6%	237 (39.2%)	1 (0.2%)	75 (12.4%)	209 (34.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	82 (13.6%)	$11,724							98.9	99.1	18	3
062031002447	22	Happy Valley Elementary	Public	K-5	3855 Happy Valley Rd.	Lafayette	94549	Contra Costa County	Lafayette Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 927-3560	449	19	23.6	3.1%	256 (57.0%)	3 (0.7%)	44 (9.8%)	58 (12.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	88 (19.6%)	$12,258							98.9	97.9	112	90
060001914370	23	Cottonwood Creek	Public	K-8	2400 Central Pkwy.	Dublin	94568	Alameda County	Dublin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 833-3333	1,060	45	23.4	5.3%	42 (4.0%)	9 (0.8%)	40 (3.8%)	931 (87.8%)	5 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	32 (3.0%)								98.9	98.9	27	4
061488001823	24	Ethan B. Allen Elementary	Public	K-6	16200 Bushard St.	Fountain Valley	92708	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6228	652	27	24.1	50.2%	21 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (9.2%)	525 (80.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	43 (6.6%)	$11,525							98.9	98.4	63	39
062265002790	25	Springer Elementary	Public	K-6	1120 Rose Ave.	Mountain View	94040	Santa Clara County	Los Altos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 943-4200	347	17	20.2	4.9%	133 (38.3%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (4.0%)	144 (41.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	55 (15.9%)	$15,398							98.9	99.3	8	17
062550003815	26	Montecito Union	Public	K-6	385 San Ysidro Rd.	Santa Barbara	93108	Santa Barbara County	Montecito Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 969-3249	344	27	12.5	4.4%	253 (73.5%)	1 (0.3%)	37 (10.8%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	50 (14.5%)	$31,547							98.8	98.3	67	41
062628012540	27	Stevenson Elementary	Public	K-5	750 San Pierre Way	Mountain View	94043	Santa Clara County	Mountain View Whisman	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 903-6950	450	19	23.6	9.1%	121 (26.9%)	3 (0.7%)	60 (13.3%)	176 (39.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	90 (20.0%)								98.8	98.5	50	23
062886007077	28	Wagner Ranch Elementary	Public	K-5	350 Camino Pablo	Orinda	94563	Contra Costa County	Orinda Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 258-0016	466	23	20.2	2.1%	199 (42.7%)	2 (0.4%)	38 (8.2%)	138 (29.6%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	87 (18.7%)	$9,880							98.8	99.2	15	13
060001913862	29	J. M. Amador Elementary	Public	K-5	2100 East Cantara Dr.	Dublin	94568	Alameda County	Dublin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 307-1950	1,000	40	25	3.1%	46 (4.6%)	11 (1.1%)	26 (2.6%)	861 (86.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (5.6%)	$6,286							98.8	98.8	34	5
060846003822	30	Country Springs Elementary	Public	K-6	14145 Village Center Dr.	Chino Hills	91709	San Bernardino County	Chino Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 590-8212	555	23	24.3	22.5%	41 (7.4%)	7 (1.3%)	124 (22.3%)	347 (62.5%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.7%)	31 (5.6%)	$9,757							98.8	98.1	93	63

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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

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.