Best Elementary Schools in California for Special Education Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in California!

Every year, the California Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Special Education students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

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 (Special Education vs All Students - 2024)
ID	Rank (of 2634)	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	Statewide Rank Percentile (Special Education)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Special Education)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)
062259006163	1	Jack L. Weaver Elementary	Public	K-5	11872 Wembley Rd.	Los Alamitos	90720	Orange County	Los Alamitos Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 799-4580	630	25	25.6	7.8%	133 (21.1%)	10 (1.6%)	136 (21.6%)	232 (36.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	118 (18.7%)	$5,147							100.0%	99.8%	0.20%
062250002715	2	Gant Elementary	Public	K-5	1854 Britton Dr.	Long Beach	90815	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 430-3384	656	24	27.3	22.4%	230 (35.1%)	38 (5.8%)	196 (29.9%)	98 (14.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	91 (13.9%)	$9,080							99.9%	95.5%	4.41%
061488001823	3	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	618	26	23.7	48.7%	22 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (7.4%)	503 (81.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	45 (7.3%)	$11,525							99.9%	99.6%	0.30%
062970004619	4	Rancho Vista Elementary	Public	K-5	4323 Palos Verdes Dr. North	Rolling Hills Estates	90274	Los Angeles County	Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 378-8388	340	16	21.2	11.2%	127 (37.4%)	5 (1.5%)	64 (18.8%)	89 (26.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (16.2%)	$6,477							99.8%	99.1%	0.70%
063231004983	5	Jackson Elementary	Public	K-5	2561 Francisco Dr.	El Dorado Hills	95762	El Dorado County	Rescue Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 933-1828	459	20	22.9	8.1%	330 (71.9%)	8 (1.7%)	67 (14.6%)	44 (9.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.9%)	6 (1.3%)	$9,923							99.8%	94.6%	5.23%
062970004615	6	Montemalaga Elementary	Public	K-5	1121 Via Nogales	Palos Verdes Estates	90274	Los Angeles County	Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 378-5228	442	18	24.5	5.0%	128 (29.0%)	7 (1.6%)	59 (13.3%)	183 (41.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	65 (14.7%)	$6,364							99.8%	98.9%	0.92%
062970004622	7	Silver Spur Elementary	Public	K-5	5500 Ironwood St.	Rancho Palos Verdes	90275	Los Angeles County	Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 378-5011	521	21	24.5	4.8%	286 (54.9%)	5 (1.0%)	55 (10.6%)	101 (19.4%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	72 (13.8%)	$6,288							99.7%	99.1%	0.60%
060002503576	8	Pacific Elementary	Public	K-5	1200 Pacific Ave.	Manhattan Beach	90266	Los Angeles County	Manhattan Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 546-8044	530	23	23	1.5%	324 (61.1%)	7 (1.3%)	54 (10.2%)	69 (13.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	76 (14.3%)	$12,797							99.7%	99.2%	0.46%
062250002707	9	Cleveland Elementary	Public	K-5	4760 Hackett Ave.	Lakewood	90713	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 420-7552	452	17	26.5	24.1%	166 (36.7%)	19 (4.2%)	188 (41.6%)	46 (10.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (7.3%)	$10,163							99.7%	96.6%	3.07%
060744011248	10	Ladera Ranch Elementary	Public	K-5	29551 Sienna Pkwy.	Ladera Ranch	92694	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5915	605	24	25.2	23.0%	358 (59.2%)	5 (0.8%)	83 (13.7%)	77 (12.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	81 (13.4%)	$9,460							99.6%	97.0%	2.57%

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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 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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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

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