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 9, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 5856)	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 (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
2171	Tierra Pacifica Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	986 Bostwick Ln.	Santa Cruz	95062	Santa Cruz County	Live Oak Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 462-9404	166	9	17.5	28.9%	105 (63.3%)	3 (1.8%)	40 (24.1%)	4 (2.4%)	2 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (7.2%)	$13,628			$00			$13,628	58	71	1551	620		062199011260
2172	Vista Grande Elementary	Public	K-6	1390 West Francis St.	Ontario	91762	San Bernardino County	Ontario-Montclair	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 988-2234	358	15	23.8	77.9%	28 (7.8%)	23 (6.4%)	280 (78.2%)	23 (6.4%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.8%)	$24,320			$4,285			$20,035	58	65.3	1802	370		062847011354
2173	Sage Oak Charter School - South	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1473 Ford St.	Redlands	92373	San Bernardino County	Sage Oak Charter School - South District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(888) 435-4445	583	113	5.1	36.4%	236 (40.5%)	29 (5.0%)	246 (42.2%)	17 (2.9%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	49 (8.4%)	$12,242			$722			$11,520	57.9	52.7	2418	245		060250514436
2174	Kings Beach Elementary	Public	K-5	8125 Steelhead	Kings Beach	96143	Placer County	Tahoe-Truckee Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 582-3730	362	18	20	45.0%	146 (40.3%)	1 (0.3%)	193 (53.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (5.8%)	$17,176			$581			$16,595	57.9	64.4	1857	317		063877006513
2175	Rocky Point Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	3500 Tamarack Dr.	Redding	96003	Shasta County	Rocky Point Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 225-0456	178	10	17.5	75.8%	125 (70.2%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (12.4%)	2 (1.1%)	2 (1.1%)	2 (1.1%)	25 (14.0%)	$17,858			$547			$17,311	57.9	38.5	3266	1091		060246311927
2176	New Horizons Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	6501 Fair Ave.	North Hollywood	91606	Los Angeles County	New Horizons Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 754-1362	141	6	23.5	90.8%	34 (24.1%)	12 (8.5%)	78 (55.3%)	7 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (7.1%)	$25,054			$3,595			$21,459	57.9	31.4	3815	1639		060239713684
2177	Brentwood Science	Public	K-5	740 Gretna Green Way	Los Angeles	90049	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 826-5631	224	12	18.6	80.4%	14 (6.3%)	71 (31.7%)	121 (54.0%)	9 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.0%)	$35,735			$7,521			$28,214	57.8	43.4	2969	792		062271002863
2178	Lincoln Elementary	Public	K-6	705 California St.	Salinas	93901	Monterey County	Salinas City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 753-5625	646	27	23.9	27.6%	34 (5.3%)	1 (0.2%)	585 (90.6%)	4 (0.6%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (2.8%)								57.8	62.8	1934	244		063393012359
2179	E. Hale Curran Elementary	Public	K-5	40855 Chaco Canyon Rd.	Murrieta	92562	Riverside County	Murrieta Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 696-1405	575	24	23.7	62.6%	123 (21.4%)	32 (5.6%)	316 (55.0%)	36 (6.3%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	63 (11.0%)	$15,603			$1,508			$14,095	57.8	56.5	2210	31		060002909510
2180	Norman R. Brekke Elementary	Public	K-5	1400 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr	Oxnard	93030	Ventura County	Oxnard	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 385-1521	585	29	20.5	73.8%	23 (3.9%)	8 (1.4%)	477 (81.5%)	58 (9.9%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	17 (2.9%)	$24,764			$2,316			$22,448	57.8	54.9	2291	111		062922007476

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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 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 9, 2025, 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:

State-Administered Standardized Tests: 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.