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)
063432005514	301	Marvin Elementary	Public	K-5	5720 Brunswick Ave.	San Diego	92120	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 583-1355	549	22	25.5	28.1%	267 (48.6%)	17 (3.1%)	140 (25.5%)	38 (6.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	86 (15.7%)	$7,738							95.5	92.9	511	210
060001908443	302	James Dougherty Elementary	Public	K-5	5301 Hibernia Dr.	Dublin	94568	Alameda County	Dublin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 803-4444	828	35	23.6	9.2%	84 (10.1%)	26 (3.1%)	76 (9.2%)	563 (68.0%)	11 (1.3%)	1 (0.1%)	67 (8.1%)	$5,899							95.5	96.5	233	69
063441005614	303	Peabody (George) Elementary	Public	K-5	251 Sixth Ave.	San Francisco	94118	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 750-8480	270	13	21.6	18.9%	101 (37.4%)	3 (1.1%)	27 (10.0%)	78 (28.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	60 (22.2%)	$6,103							95.5	97.4	157	146
063513007356	304	Bollinger Canyon Elementary	Public	K-5	2300 Talavera Dr.	San Ramon	94583	Contra Costa County	San Ramon Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 242-3200	479	26	18.5	5.2%	97 (20.3%)	4 (0.8%)	44 (9.2%)	282 (58.9%)	7 (1.5%)	1 (0.2%)	44 (9.2%)	$7,124							95.5	97.5	148	156
061656002088	305	Happy Valley Elementary	Public	K-6	3125 Branciforte Dr.	Santa Cruz	95065	Santa Cruz County	Happy Valley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-1456	122	6	19	10.7%	97 (79.5%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (6.6%)	2 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (11.5%)	$12,688							95.5	96.4	237	68
061314007788	306	Tom Matsumoto Elementary	Public	K-6	4121 Mackin Woods Ln.	San Jose	95135	Santa Clara County	Evergreen Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 223-4873	753	31	24.2	7.2%	38 (5.0%)	18 (2.4%)	106 (14.1%)	554 (73.6%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	33 (4.4%)	$6,000							95.5	97.1	180	126
064128006842	307	Walnut Elementary	Public	K-5	841 South Glenwick	Walnut	91789	Los Angeles County	Walnut Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 594-1820	699	26	26.5	28.0%	9 (1.3%)	2 (0.3%)	98 (14.0%)	554 (79.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	35 (5.0%)	$7,997							95.5	94.8	369	62
062271003260	308	Palisades Charter Elementary	Public, Charter	K-5	800 Via de La Paz	Pacific Palisades	90272	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 454-3700	406	20	20.3	14.0%	231 (56.9%)	16 (3.9%)	54 (13.3%)	22 (5.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	83 (20.4%)	$9,595							95.5	93.2	490	182
060780000749	309	Proctor Elementary	Public	K-5	17520 Redwood Rd.	Castro Valley	94546	Alameda County	Castro Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 537-0630	596	24	24.8	27.7%	137 (23.0%)	9 (1.5%)	106 (17.8%)	231 (38.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	110 (18.5%)	$5,194							95.4	95.8	291	18
063066004755	310	Brookhaven Elementary	Public	K-6	1851 North Brookhaven Ave.	Placentia	92870	Orange County	Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 986-7110	460	19	24.2	26.1%	162 (35.2%)	10 (2.2%)	155 (33.7%)	113 (24.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (4.1%)	$6,050							95.4	95.3	336	26

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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

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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