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)
061488001840	1261	Ethel M. Evans Elementary	Public	K-6	12281 Nelson St.	Garden Grove	92840	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6558	416	18	23	76.7%	10 (2.4%)	3 (0.7%)	233 (56.0%)	160 (38.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.4%)	$12,135							77.6	77.1	1273	12
063441005630	1262	Parker (Jean) Elementary	Public	K-5	840 Broadway St.	San Francisco	94133	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 291-7990	149	9	16.5	86.6%	3 (2.0%)	20 (13.4%)	20 (13.4%)	92 (61.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (9.4%)	$6,103							77.6	62.7	1913	651
060462009116	1263	Joe Henderson Elementary	Public	K-5	650 Hastings Dr.	Benicia	94510	Solano County	Benicia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 747-8370	512	22	23.7	21.1%	220 (43.0%)	26 (5.1%)	112 (21.9%)	67 (13.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	85 (16.6%)	$5,815							77.6	80.4	1158	105
062793004229	1264	Oak View Elementary	Public	K-8	7474 East Collier Rd.	Acampo	95220	San Joaquin County	Oak View Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 368-0636	379	20	18.9	42.5%	169 (44.6%)	1 (0.3%)	183 (48.3%)	7 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	17 (4.5%)								77.6	68.4	1652	388
060141406032	1265	Washington Elementary	Public	K-6	290 Lighthouse Rd.	Santa Barbara	93109	Santa Barbara County	Santa Barbara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 965-6653	524	29	18	46.0%	247 (47.1%)	2 (0.4%)	208 (39.7%)	21 (4.0%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	44 (8.4%)	$11,839							77.5	71.8	1502	237
062784004226	1266	Oak Grove Elementary/Willowside Middle	Public, Charter	1-8	5299 Hall Rd.	Santa Rosa	95401	Sonoma County	Oak Grove Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 542-0171	742	34	21.8	25.9%	437 (58.9%)	7 (0.9%)	226 (30.5%)	18 (2.4%)	8 (1.1%)	1 (0.1%)	44 (5.9%)	$8,626							77.5	72.9	1467	201
060903005744	1267	Cedarwood Elementary	Public	K-6	2851 Palo Alto Ave.	Clovis	93611	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-6000	782	31	25	31.7%	353 (45.1%)	14 (1.8%)	264 (33.8%)	107 (13.7%)	8 (1.0%)	1 (0.1%)	34 (4.3%)	$4,559							77.5	83.4	1027	240
060216000095	1268	Carnelian Elementary	Public	K-6	7105 Carnelian St.	Alta Loma	91701	San Bernardino County	Alta Loma Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 484-5010	464	18	25.3	40.9%	127 (27.4%)	19 (4.1%)	263 (56.7%)	25 (5.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (6.5%)	$8,530							77.4	84.1	997	271
063171008945	1269	Mountain Valley Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	1010 Ramona St.	Ramona	92065	San Diego County	Ramona City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 787-3600	169	9	18.8	40.2%	110 (65.1%)	1 (0.6%)	46 (27.2%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (6.5%)	$5,350							77.4			(n/a)
063543006049	1270	Ponderosa Elementary	Public	K-5	804 Ponderosa Ave.	Sunnyvale	94086	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-4000	501	23	22	31.5%	95 (19.0%)	6 (1.2%)	156 (31.1%)	226 (45.1%)	3 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	14 (2.8%)	$9,209							77.4	80.2	1164	106

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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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.