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
3341	San Diego Cooperative Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	7260 Linda Vista Rd.	San Diego	92111	San Diego County	San Diego Cooperative Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 496-1613	454	25	18.1	50.7%	156 (34.4%)	21 (4.6%)	180 (39.6%)	42 (9.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	53 (11.7%)	$14,340			$1,336			$13,004	38	38.8	3249	92		060180910636
3342	Compass Charter Schools of Los Angeles	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	850 Hampshire Rd. Ste. R	Thousand Oaks	91361	Ventura County	Compass Charter Schools of Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(855) 937-4227	1,032	46	22.6	53.2%	266 (25.8%)	68 (6.6%)	583 (56.5%)	40 (3.9%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	70 (6.8%)	$14,138			$1,169			$12,969	38	47.7	2689	653		060179014045
3343	Foster Elementary	Public	K-5	6550 51st St.	San Diego	92120	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 510-4100	518	22	23.7	59.3%	149 (28.8%)	51 (9.8%)	202 (39.0%)	39 (7.5%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	74 (14.3%)	$23,352			$4,351			$19,001	38	31.2	3847	504		063432005462
3344	Leo Carrillo Elementary	Public	K-6	15270 Bushard St.	Westminster	92683	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6230	508	20	25.7	90.2%	42 (8.3%)	2 (0.4%)	304 (59.8%)	143 (28.1%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (3.1%)	$14,812			$1,631			$13,181	37.9	46.8	2750	594		061488009371
3345	Will Rogers Elementary	Public	K-6	11220 Duncan Ave.	Lynwood	90262	Los Angeles County	Lynwood Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 603-1542	684	29	23.5	89.5%	4 (0.6%)	22 (3.2%)	654 (95.6%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)								37.9	38	3307	38		062316003537
3346	MethodSchools	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	38750 Sky Canyon Dr.	Murrieta	92563	Riverside County	MethodSchools District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(951) 461-4620	428	16	27.5	41.1%	179 (41.8%)	33 (7.7%)	172 (40.2%)	13 (3.0%)	5 (1.2%)	6 (1.4%)	15 (3.5%)	$18,309			$663			$17,646	37.9	32.2	3762	416		060168213762
3347	Aspire Gateway Academy Charter	Public, Charter	K-5	8929 Kauffman Ave.	South Gate	90280	Los Angeles County	Aspire Gateway Academy Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 249-5740	344	16	21.2	95.3%	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	326 (94.8%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (4.7%)	$21,467			$3,126			$18,341	37.9	35	3518	171		060247212679
3348	Mission Park Elementary	Public	K-6	403 West Acacia St.	Salinas	93901	Monterey County	Salinas City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 753-5635	657	27	24.3	54.6%	84 (12.8%)	2 (0.3%)	515 (78.4%)	9 (1.4%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	43 (6.5%)								37.9	28.8	4038	690		063393005325
3349	Hawthorne Elementary	Public	K-6	2700 Irving St.	Riverside	92503	Riverside County	Riverside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 352-6716	663	28	23.5	80.7%	73 (11.0%)	30 (4.5%)	522 (78.7%)	16 (2.4%)	5 (0.8%)	2 (0.3%)	15 (2.3%)	$18,530			$1,337			$17,193	37.9	33.4	3646	297		063315005141
3350	Finley Elementary	Public	K-5	13521 Edwards St.	Westminster	92683	Orange County	Westminster	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 895-7764	316	14	22.5	84.8%	16 (5.1%)	2 (0.6%)	221 (69.9%)	64 (20.3%)	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.9%)	9 (2.8%)	$23,768			$2,436			$21,332	37.9	33.2	3663	313		064215010266

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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 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.