Best Elementary Schools in California for General 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, General 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 (General Education vs All Students - 2024)
ID	Rank (of 5801)	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 (General Education)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (General Education)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)
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	178	15	12	3.9%	136 (76.4%)	1 (0.6%)	14 (7.9%)	3 (1.7%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (12.4%)	$23,655							100.0%	100.0%	0.00%
062265011202	2	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	407	22	18.8	4.4%	118 (29.0%)	3 (0.7%)	28 (6.9%)	208 (51.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	48 (11.8%)	$14,697							100.0%	99.9%	0.05%
062961004581	3	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	20	19.4	5.2%	32 (8.3%)	5 (1.3%)	21 (5.4%)	295 (76.4%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (8.3%)	$11,107							99.9%	99.8%	0.10%
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	604	25	24.5	12.7%	10 (1.7%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	547 (90.6%)	8 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (5.6%)	$5,934							99.9%	99.9%	0.00%
061029005406	5	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	562	23	24.8	10.3%	7 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	487 (86.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	64 (11.4%)	$6,858							99.9%	99.9%	0.02%
060241511442	6	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	1,025	70	14.7	3.5%	170 (16.6%)	2 (0.2%)	46 (4.5%)	648 (63.2%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	157 (15.3%)								99.9%	99.9%	0.02%
060627014309	7	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	144	10	14.7	9.7%	26 (18.1%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (5.6%)	70 (48.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (27.8%)								99.9%	100.0%	0.09%
063213007422	8	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	527	21	25	7.8%	261 (49.5%)	0 (0.0%)	73 (13.9%)	109 (20.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	83 (15.7%)								99.9%	99.9%	0.09%
063033004729	9	Beach Elementary	Public	K-5	100 Lake Ave.	Piedmont	94611	Alameda County	Piedmont City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 594-2666	291	17	16.9	3.1%	138 (47.4%)	5 (1.7%)	32 (11.0%)	62 (21.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	54 (18.6%)	$13,616							99.8%	99.8%	0.02%
061719002175	10	West Hillsborough	Public	K-5	376 Barbara Way	Hillsborough	94010	San Mateo County	Hillsborough City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 344-9870	294	20	14.7	2.4%	79 (26.9%)	3 (1.0%)	21 (7.1%)	135 (45.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (19.0%)	$19,575							99.8%	99.4%	0.46%

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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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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