Best Public Schools in Aptos, CA

The city of Aptos, California, is served by six public schools spanning grades K-12, with five schools in the lower-ranked Pajaro Valley Unified district and one high school in the higher-performing Santa Cruz City High district.

Among elementary schools, Valencia Elementary stands out with the highest test scores in the area, while Rio del Mar Elementary combines strong academics with the lowest chronic absenteeism and achieves this with relatively low per-student spending. Mar Vista Elementary has seen a recent decline in its performance rating. For older students, Aptos Junior High shows a notable drop in 8th-grade scores compared to 7th grade, and Aptos High boasts an exceptional 96.9% graduation rate and is showing significant improvement despite higher chronic absenteeism.

In contrast, Delta Charter, the area's alternative charter high school, has the lowest test scores and the highest chronic absenteeism rate at 43.7%, despite a low student-teacher ratio. A key finding across Aptos is the wide variation in per-student spending, which does not directly correlate with academic outcomes, and a community-wide trend of chronic absenteeism that exceeds state averages at most schools.