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
2571	Wakeham Elementary	Public	K-6	7772 Chapman Ave.	Garden Grove	92841	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6407	307	12	25.4	85.0%	11 (3.6%)	3 (1.0%)	208 (67.8%)	70 (22.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	14 (4.6%)	$18,835			$1,845			$16,990	50.3	51.9	2453	118		061488001885
2572	Sycamore Academy of Science and Cultural Arts	Public, Charter	K-8	23151 Palomar St.	Wildomar	92562	Riverside County	Sycamore Academy of Science and Cultural Arts District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 678-5217	486	18	26.8	46.5%	189 (38.9%)	16 (3.3%)	217 (44.7%)	9 (1.9%)	3 (0.6%)	2 (0.4%)	50 (10.3%)	$15,997			$1,410			$14,587	50.3	48.8	2627	55		060200912433
2573	Gault Elementary	Public	K-5	1320 Seabright Ave.	Santa Cruz	95062	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3856	314	14	22.4	48.1%	100 (31.8%)	2 (0.6%)	192 (61.1%)	4 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (5.1%)	$22,403			$3,402			$19,001	50.3	46.5	2764	191		063559006062
2574	Ready Springs Elementary	Public	4-8	10862 Spenceville Rd.	Penn Valley	95946	Nevada County	Penn Valley Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 432-1118	255	14	18.6	56.9%	181 (71.0%)	4 (1.6%)	46 (18.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (9.0%)	$12,977			$1,500			$11,477	50.2	46.4	2769	195		060142704919
2575	Yuba River Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	10085 Adam Ave.	Grass Valley	95945	Nevada County	Yuba River Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 272-6060	323	12	26.3	54.2%	242 (74.9%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (11.8%)	5 (1.5%)	3 (0.9%)	1 (0.3%)	34 (10.5%)	$14,642			$893			$13,749	50.2	71.4	1530	1045		060256511992
2576	Mesa Elementary	Public	K-8	3901 North Mesa School Rd.	Somis	93066	Ventura County	Mesa Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 485-1411	597	29	20.3	40.5%	71 (11.9%)	4 (0.7%)	485 (81.2%)	17 (2.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (3.2%)	$15,210			$1,079			$14,131	50.2	47.6	2697	121		062472003705
2577	Calahan Street Elementary	Public	K-5	18722 Knapp St.	Northridge	91324	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 886-4612	474	22	21.5	73.2%	53 (11.2%)	28 (5.9%)	283 (59.7%)	63 (13.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (9.9%)	$24,078			$4,657			$19,421	50.2	41.6	3090	513		062271002885
2578	Date Elementary	Public	K-5	9011 Oleander Ave.	Fontana	92335	San Bernardino County	Fontana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 357-5240	533	24	21.8	87.4%	8 (1.5%)	19 (3.6%)	496 (93.1%)	5 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.8%)	$16,063			$1,725			$14,338	50.2	39.7	3194	616		061392007265
2579	C. W. Haman Elementary	Public	K-5	865 Los Padres Blvd.	Santa Clara	95050	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-1400	324	16	19.7	28.4%	86 (26.5%)	5 (1.5%)	126 (38.9%)	76 (23.5%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	29 (9.0%)	$33,117			$2,784			$30,333	50.2	64.9	1823	756		063543006040
2580	Ernie Pyle Elementary	Public	K-6	14500 South Woodruff Ave.	Bellflower	90706	Los Angeles County	Bellflower Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 804-6528	341	16	20.9	80.9%	10 (2.9%)	43 (12.6%)	244 (71.6%)	30 (8.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (4.1%)	$20,514			$2,504			$18,010	50.2	36.1	3430	850		060444000403

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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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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