Best Elementary Schools in California

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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
1621	Rancho Elementary	Public	K-5	1430 Johnson St.	Novato	94947	Marin County	Novato Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 897-3101	387	17	22.7	49.1%	153 (39.5%)	5 (1.3%)	178 (46.0%)	17 (4.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	33 (8.5%)	$25,692			$2,902			$22,790	69.5	80.2	1145	476		062772004194
1622	Evergreen Elementary	Public	K-4	19415 Hooker Creek Rd.	Cottonwood	96022	Tehama County	Evergreen Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 347-3411	541	24	22.5	60.1%	405 (74.9%)	0 (0.0%)	97 (17.9%)	5 (0.9%)	12 (2.2%)	1 (0.2%)	21 (3.9%)	$15,012			$2,093			$12,919	69.5	59.5	2092	470		061317001500
1623	Northside Elementary	Public	K-6	860 Cave Valley Rd.	Cool	95614	El Dorado County	Black Oak Mine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 333-8355	283	13	21.7	28.6%	184 (65.0%)	1 (0.4%)	46 (16.3%)	2 (0.7%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (17.0%)	$17,172			$387			$16,785	69.5	72.3	1483	140		060524007651
1624	Ortega Elementary	Public	K-5	1283 Terra Nova Blvd.	Pacifica	94044	San Mateo County	Pacifica	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 738-6670	404	19	21.2	13.6%	204 (50.5%)	2 (0.5%)	77 (19.1%)	43 (10.6%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (1.0%)	73 (18.1%)	$10,620			$1,936			$8,684	69.5	64.9	1826	202		062046011430
1625	Parkview Elementary	Public	K-6	12272 Wilken Way	Garden Grove	92840	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6266	433	20	21.6	79.7%	20 (4.6%)	2 (0.5%)	243 (56.1%)	144 (33.3%)	3 (0.7%)	5 (1.2%)	15 (3.5%)	$22,916			$3,087			$19,829	69.5	71	1554	71		061488001870
1626	College View Elementary	Public	K-5	6582 Lennox Dr.	Huntington Beach	92647	Orange County	Ocean View	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 847-3505	337	15	22.4	68.5%	96 (28.5%)	12 (3.6%)	153 (45.4%)	43 (12.8%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.6%)	30 (8.9%)	$18,550			$1,272			$17,278	69.5	73.9	1417	209		062814004329
1627	Pioneer Elementary	Public, Charter	K-5	8810 14th Ave.	Hanford	93230	Kings County	Pioneer Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 584-8831	518	21	24.6	50.2%	139 (26.8%)	7 (1.4%)	324 (62.5%)	21 (4.1%)	5 (1.0%)	1 (0.2%)	21 (4.1%)	$15,387			$1,343			$14,044	69.5	68.3	1670	43		063051004741
1628	Lincoln Elementary	Public	K-5	36111 Bettencourt St.	Newark	94560	Alameda County	Newark Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 818-3500	286	12	23.8	37.8%	26 (9.1%)	6 (2.1%)	138 (48.3%)	78 (27.3%)	1 (0.3%)	4 (1.4%)	33 (11.5%)	$18,827			$936			$17,891	69.4	69.2	1629	1		062706004083
1629	Roosevelt Elementary	Public	K-5	951 Dowling Blvd.	San Leandro	94577	Alameda County	San Leandro Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 618-4350	524	21	24.9	45.8%	118 (22.5%)	54 (10.3%)	181 (34.5%)	76 (14.5%)	2 (0.4%)	3 (0.6%)	89 (17.0%)	$17,332			$1,492			$15,840	69.4	77.1	1285	344		063468005841
1630	New Temple	Public	K-5	11033 East Central Ave.	South El Monte	91733	Los Angeles County	Valle Lindo Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 580-0692	606	29	20.8	69.3%	5 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	540 (89.1%)	59 (9.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	$22,556			$414			$22,142	69.4	61.6	1996	366		064065006714

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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