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
3822	Castroville Elementary	Public	K-6	11161 Merritt St.	Castroville	95012	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 633-2570	600	24	25	90.5%	13 (2.2%)	1 (0.2%)	579 (96.5%)	5 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	$14,876			$2,121			$12,755	31.7	16.8	5144	1322		062759004140
3823	Downtown Value	Public, Charter	K-8	950 West Washington Blvd.	Los Angeles	90015	Los Angeles County	Downtown Value District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 748-8868	395	16	24.6	94.9%	1 (0.3%)	4 (1.0%)	386 (97.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	$20,288			$3,487			$16,801	31.7	24.2	4447	624		060190710522
3824	Ingenium Charter	Public, Charter	K-5	22250 Elkwood St.	Canoga Park	91304	Los Angeles County	Ingenium Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 456-4590	296	13	22.7	89.2%	10 (3.4%)	5 (1.7%)	262 (88.5%)	18 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$25,219			$4,873			$20,346	31.7	12.5	5518	1694		060202312570
3825	Collins Elementary	Public	K-6	1224 Pinole Valley Rd.	Pinole	94564	Contra Costa County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 231-1446	311	17	18.2	50.5%	30 (9.6%)	45 (14.5%)	141 (45.3%)	67 (21.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (9.0%)	$7,762			$1,508			$6,254	31.7	33.1	3674	151		063255005014
3826	El Toyon Elementary	Public	K-6	2000 East Division St.	National City	91950	San Diego County	National Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 336-8000	381	17	22.4	86.6%	9 (2.4%)	14 (3.7%)	303 (79.5%)	32 (8.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (6.0%)	$26,070			$3,135			$22,935	31.7	24.3	4428	602		062667004043
3827	De Anza Elementary	Public	K-5	1089 DeAnza Dr.	San Jacinto	92582	Riverside County	San Jacinto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 654-4777	692	32	21.6	88.2%	49 (7.1%)	53 (7.7%)	532 (76.9%)	14 (2.0%)	7 (1.0%)	3 (0.4%)	34 (4.9%)	$12,596			$668			$11,928	31.7	31.6	3805	22		063444009190
3828	Juniper Elementary	Public	K-5	1809 South Juniper St.	Escondido	92025	San Diego County	Escondido Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 432-2462	588	30	19.4	87.1%	42 (7.1%)	5 (0.9%)	503 (85.5%)	11 (1.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (4.4%)								31.6	25	4366	538		061288001458
3829	Potrero Elementary	Public	K-8	2611 North Potrero Ave.	El Monte	91733	Los Angeles County	El Monte City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 350-9386	596	28	21.2	95.3%	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	541 (90.8%)	50 (8.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	$26,069			$5,726			$20,343	31.6	35.7	3460	369		061209001356
3830	Chaparral Academy of Technology	Public	K-5	14000 Shadow Dr.	Fontana	92337	San Bernardino County	Fontana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 357-5450	205	12	16.8	87.3%	7 (3.4%)	9 (4.4%)	177 (86.3%)	6 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.9%)	$14,041			$1,744			$12,297	31.6	28.2	4090	260		061392010362
3831	Toyon Elementary	Public	K-5	995 Bard St.	San Jose	95127	Santa Clara County	Berryessa Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 923-1965	231	10	23.1	43.7%	11 (4.8%)	5 (2.2%)	120 (51.9%)	81 (35.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.9%)	12 (5.2%)	$18,388			$1,065			$17,323	31.6	30.3	3906	75		060480000468

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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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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.