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)
063783006386	1421	Saint Helena Elementary	Public	3-5	1325 Adams St.	Saint Helena	94574	Napa County	Saint Helena Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 967-2712	241	17	14.2	36.5%	102 (42.3%)	1 (0.4%)	128 (53.1%)	6 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	3 (1.2%)	$19,199							73.6	79.1	1200	221
061111009786	1422	James Monroe Elementary	Public	K-5	42-100 Yucca Ln.	Bermuda Dunes	92203	Riverside County	Desert Sands Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 772-4130	581	24	24.2	63.7%	154 (26.5%)	11 (1.9%)	358 (61.6%)	18 (3.1%)	8 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (5.5%)	$8,250							73.6	66.3	1743	321
060002807223	1423	Vintage Hills Elementary	Public	K-5	42240 Camino Romo	Temecula	92592	Riverside County	Temecula Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 695-4260	531	22	24.1	26.4%	269 (50.7%)	16 (3.0%)	178 (33.5%)	27 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	39 (7.3%)	$10,004							73.6	74.2	1420	3
060561000507	1424	Fred Ekstrand Elementary	Public	K-5	400 North Walnut Ave.	San Dimas	91773	Los Angeles County	Bonita Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 971-8203	493	22	22.4	51.3%	67 (13.6%)	17 (3.4%)	339 (68.8%)	30 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	39 (7.9%)								73.6	80.2	1163	261
063543006054	1425	Westwood Elementary	Public	K-5	435 Saratoga Ave.	Santa Clara	95050	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-4300	382	18	21.1	45.5%	100 (26.2%)	16 (4.2%)	153 (40.1%)	76 (19.9%)	2 (0.5%)	4 (1.0%)	31 (8.1%)	$17,671							73.6	70	1577	152
062745011866	1426	Veterans Elementary	Public	K-6	6301 Old Farm Rd.	Bakersfield	93312	Kern County	Norris Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 387-7050	857	37	23.3	30.5%	363 (42.4%)	12 (1.4%)	369 (43.1%)	63 (7.4%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (5.5%)	$5,191							73.6	70.8	1545	119
064245006946	1427	Daniel Phelan Language Academy	Public	K-5	7150 South Cully Ave.	Whittier	90606	Los Angeles County	Whittier City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 789-3210	534	22	24.7	49.8%	9 (1.7%)	2 (0.4%)	516 (96.6%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.9%)	$5,337							73.6	69.5	1602	175
061233011063	1428	Roy Herburger Elementary	Public	K-6	8670 Maranello Dr.	Elk Grove	95624	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 681-1390	917	38	24.2	45.9%	35 (3.8%)	87 (9.5%)	139 (15.2%)	554 (60.4%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (2.7%)	77 (8.4%)	$6,475							73.5	78.2	1233	195
063846006460	1429	Ellis Elementary	Public	K-5	550 East Olive Ave.	Sunnyvale	94086	Santa Clara County	Sunnyvale	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 522-8260	695	30	23.1	27.9%	87 (12.5%)	13 (1.9%)	244 (35.1%)	297 (42.7%)	3 (0.4%)	5 (0.7%)	46 (6.6%)	$12,408							73.5	69.6	1597	168
063025004716	1430	Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley	Public, Charter	K-8	1001 Cherry St.	Petaluma	94952	Sonoma County	Petaluma Joint Union High	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 778-4740	452	18	25.4	26.5%	328 (72.6%)	2 (0.4%)	58 (12.8%)	3 (0.7%)	4 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (12.4%)	$7,851							73.5	71.6	1508	78

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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

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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