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 10, 2024.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2023)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)					ID
Rank (of 5862)	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 (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)	ID
3441	Cimarron Avenue Elementary	Public	K-5	11559 Cimarron Ave.	Hawthorne	90250	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 757-1226	239	15	15.9	80.3%	2 (0.8%)	173 (72.4%)	43 (18.0%)	2 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.8%)	17 (7.1%)	$28,827			$8,568			$20,259	35.9	40	3129	312		062271002920
3442	Arroyo Elementary	Public	K-6	225 Ulysses St.	Simi Valley	93065	Ventura County	Simi Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 306-4420	235	10	23.5	75.7%	34 (14.5%)	2 (0.9%)	178 (75.7%)	12 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.9%)	7 (3.0%)	$16,729			$2,319			$14,410	35.8	32.9	3659	217		063684010712
3443	Dolores Huerta Elementary	Public	K-5	260 East 31st St.	Los Angeles	90011	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 846-4820	308	18	17.1	98.1%	3 (1.0%)	10 (3.2%)	292 (94.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.0%)	$20,485			$7,379			$13,106	35.8	36.3	3408	35		062271012688
3444	William R. Buckley Elementary	Public	K-6	2573 West Westfield Ave.	Porterville	93257	Tulare County	Burton Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 788-6412	511	20	25.5	82.4%	68 (13.3%)	2 (0.4%)	357 (69.9%)	56 (11.0%)	6 (1.2%)	5 (1.0%)	17 (3.3%)	$18,807			$3,071			$15,736	35.8	37.5	3312	132		060657007898
3445	Rio Hondo Elementary	Public	K-8	11425 Wildflower Rd.	Arcadia	91006	Los Angeles County	El Monte City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 575-2308	636	33	19.2	79.9%	16 (2.5%)	4 (0.6%)	499 (78.5%)	111 (17.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	5 (0.8%)	$19,959			$3,448			$16,511	35.8	35.6	3461	16		061209001357
3446	Virtual Academy STEAM	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	4010 East Ramboz Dr.	Los Angeles	90063	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(323) 673-5544	878	52	16.9	78.5%	92 (10.5%)	134 (15.3%)	590 (67.2%)	33 (3.8%)	1 (0.1%)	3 (0.3%)	25 (2.8%)	$9,844			$6,761			$3,083	35.8	42.7	2968	478		062271014633
3447	Empower Language Academy	Public, Charter	K-6	6402 Linda Vista Rd.	San Diego	92111	San Diego County	Empower Language Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 292-1304	147	7	21	53.1%	23 (15.6%)	5 (3.4%)	107 (72.8%)	4 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (5.4%)	$20,059			$1,859			$18,200	35.8	26.3	4246	799		060237513803
3448	Alisal Community	Public	K-6	1437 Del Monte Ave.	Salinas	93905	Monterey County	Alisal Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 753-5720	582	23	25.3	92.3%	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	578 (99.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	$15,096			$2,334			$12,762	35.8	34.6	3530	82		060195000082
3449	Camino Real Elementary	Public	K-6	4655 Camino Real	Jurupa Valley	92509	Riverside County	Jurupa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 360-2714	738	33	22.1	57.3%	138 (18.7%)	21 (2.8%)	493 (66.8%)	42 (5.7%)	2 (0.3%)	4 (0.5%)	38 (5.1%)	$16,614			$1,246			$15,368	35.8	36.1	3425	24		061926009380
3450	Del Rio Elementary	Public	K-5	5200 North River Rd.	Oceanside	92057	San Diego County	Oceanside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 901-7300	371	15	24.7	80.9%	38 (10.2%)	10 (2.7%)	261 (70.4%)	12 (3.2%)	1 (0.3%)	16 (4.3%)	33 (8.9%)	$17,941			$2,217			$15,724	35.8	25.2	4348	898		062825004357

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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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 English Language Learner 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 10, 2024, 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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

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.