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)
060927000939	1	Cold Spring Elementary	Public	K-6	2243 Sycamore Canyon Rd.	Santa Barbara	93108	Santa Barbara County	Cold Spring Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 969-2678	193	16	12.1	5.2%	145 (75.1%)	1 (0.5%)	16 (8.3%)	5 (2.6%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (13.0%)	$23,655							99.7	99.3	5	4
060627014309	2	Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	7701 Silva Valley Pkwy.	El Dorado Hills	95762	El Dorado County	Buckeye Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 933-9746	124	9	14.5	13.7%	27 (21.8%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.6%)	62 (50.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (22.6%)								99.5	99.3	9	7
063213007422	3	North Star Academy	Public	3-8	400 Duane St.	Redwood City	94062	San Mateo County	Redwood City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 482-2411	519	19	27.2	9.4%	259 (49.9%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (12.1%)	120 (23.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	76 (14.6%)								99.5	99.5	2	1
061029001133	4	William Faria Elementary	Public	K-5	10155 Barbara Ln.	Cupertino	95014	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 252-0706	632	25	25	12.0%	14 (2.2%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	576 (91.1%)	10 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (4.4%)	$5,934							99.5	99.5	1	3
062265011202	5	Covington Elementary	Public	K-6	205 Covington Rd.	Los Altos	94024	Santa Clara County	Los Altos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 947-1100	441	23	18.8	4.1%	128 (29.0%)	6 (1.4%)	25 (5.7%)	218 (49.4%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.7%)	60 (13.6%)	$14,697							99.4	99.2	11	6
061029005406	6	Murdock-Portal Elementary	Public	K-5	1188 Wunderlich Dr.	San Jose	95129	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 973-8191	559	22	24.8	7.7%	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	496 (88.7%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (9.8%)	$6,858							99.4	99.4	4	2
060241511442	7	Bullis Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	102 West Portola Ave.	Los Altos	94022	Santa Clara County	Bullis Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 947-4100	1,058	70	15	1.9%	192 (18.1%)	1 (0.1%)	44 (4.2%)	637 (60.2%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	181 (17.1%)								99.2	99.2	12	5
063591006147	8	Argonaut Elementary	Public	K-5	13200 Shadow Mountain Rd.	Saratoga	95070	Santa Clara County	Saratoga Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 867-4773	342	14	24.4	2.9%	24 (7.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.9%)	261 (76.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (13.5%)	$8,245							99.2	99.2	17	9
062961004581	9	Herbert Hoover Elementary	Public	K-5	445 East Charleston Rd.	Palo Alto	94306	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 320-8106	386	21	18.5	6.2%	34 (8.8%)	3 (0.8%)	22 (5.7%)	290 (75.1%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	35 (9.1%)	$11,107							99.2	99.4	3	6
063033004729	10	Beach Elementary	Public	K-5	100 Lake Ave.	Piedmont	94611	Alameda County	Piedmont City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 594-2666	288	17	16.7	4.2%	137 (47.6%)	5 (1.7%)	33 (11.5%)	53 (18.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (20.8%)	$13,616							99.2	98.9	28	18

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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:

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

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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