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
891	Sutter Elementary	Public	K-5	3200 Forbes Ave.	Santa Clara	95051	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-4200	314	17	18.3	14.6%	91 (29.0%)	7 (2.2%)	62 (19.7%)	110 (35.0%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (13.4%)	$30,596			$1,638			$28,958	85.8	90.4	681	210		063543006052
892	Cottonwood Creek Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	3425 Brush St.	Cottonwood	96022	Shasta County	Cottonwood Creek Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 347-7200	294	11	26.1	26.5%	252 (85.7%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (5.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.0%)	1 (0.3%)	21 (7.1%)	$12,688			$214			$12,474	85.7	91.8	588	304		060181112647
893	Verdugo Woodlands Elementary	Public	K-6	1751 North Verdugo Rd.	Glendale	91208	Los Angeles County	Glendale Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 241-2433	676	28	24.1	41.1%	451 (66.7%)	8 (1.2%)	75 (11.1%)	84 (12.4%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	56 (8.3%)	$16,392			$729			$15,663	85.7	87.3	847	46		061524001948
894	Justice Street Academy Charter	Public, Charter	K-5	23350 Justice St.	West Hills	91304	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 346-4388	430	18	23.8	41.9%	147 (34.2%)	28 (6.5%)	164 (38.1%)	48 (11.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	42 (9.8%)	$19,964			$2,455			$17,509	85.7	92.4	549	345		062271003111
895	Yick Wo Elementary	Public	K-5	2245 Jones St.	San Francisco	94133	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 749-3540	205	10	20.5	44.9%	56 (27.3%)	7 (3.4%)	28 (13.7%)	65 (31.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (23.9%)	$26,042			$3,002			$23,040	85.7	87.8	825	70		063441008967
896	Bernardo Elementary	Public	K-5	1122 Mountain Heights Dr.	Escondido	92029	San Diego County	Escondido Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 432-2700	664	33	20.2	25.6%	307 (46.2%)	4 (0.6%)	202 (30.4%)	57 (8.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	93 (14.0%)								85.6	81.9	1079	183		061288011131
897	Highland Ranch Elementary	Public	K-5	14840 Waverley Downs Way	San Diego	92128	San Diego County	Poway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 674-4707	661	28	23.2	14.7%	194 (29.3%)	17 (2.6%)	102 (15.4%)	263 (39.8%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	81 (12.3%)	$15,661			$898			$14,763	85.6	86.1	901	4		063153001204
898	Summit Academy	Public	K-7	35780 Abelia St.	Winchester	92596	Riverside County	Temecula Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 294-6121	767	31	24.6	20.5%	284 (37.0%)	33 (4.3%)	285 (37.2%)	60 (7.8%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	103 (13.4%)	$17,985			$970			$17,015	85.6	84.7	959	61		060002814681
899	Helen Hunt Jackson Elementary	Public	K-5	32400 Camino San Dimas	Temecula	92592	Riverside County	Temecula Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 302-5199	438	19	23	22.8%	152 (34.7%)	9 (2.1%)	149 (34.0%)	83 (18.9%)	6 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (8.9%)	$15,149			$970			$14,179	85.6	76.8	1300	401		060002808270
900	Spring Lake Elementary	Public	K-6	2209 Miekle Ave.	Woodland	95776	Yolo County	Woodland Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 406-3172	387	15	25.8	34.6%	136 (35.1%)	11 (2.8%)	102 (26.4%)	84 (21.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	53 (13.7%)	$7,462			$442			$7,020	85.6	87.7	830	70		064308014365

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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:

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

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.