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
1191	C L Smith Elementary	Public	K-6	1375 Balboa St.	San Luis Obispo	93405	San Luis Obispo County	San Luis Coastal Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 596-4094	528	24	22.4	45.5%	241 (45.6%)	10 (1.9%)	219 (41.5%)	23 (4.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (6.4%)	$17,682			$2,900			$14,782	79.1	83.9	1003	188		063480005882
1192	Vista Grande Elementary	Public	K-5	5606 Antigua Blvd.	San Diego	92124	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 496-8290	364	15	24.2	42.9%	135 (37.1%)	15 (4.1%)	108 (29.7%)	37 (10.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	68 (18.7%)	$19,786			$2,664			$17,122	79	83.9	1005	187		063432005564
1193	Hedenkamp (Anne and William) Elementary	Public	K-6	930 East Palomar	Chula Vista	91913	San Diego County	Chula Vista Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 397-5828	855	38	22.5	41.2%	54 (6.3%)	25 (2.9%)	469 (54.9%)	232 (27.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.4%)	70 (8.2%)	$15,933			$1,763			$14,170	79	77.3	1278	85		060861011227
1194	Springbrook Elementary	Public	K-6	655 Springbrook N	Irvine	92614	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6050	539	20	26.5	29.1%	172 (31.9%)	11 (2.0%)	103 (19.1%)	199 (36.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	53 (9.8%)	$17,613			$1,067			$16,546	79	86.7	884	310		068450009468
1195	Rio Seco Elementary	Public	K-8	9545 Cuyamaca St.	Santee	92071	San Diego County	Santee	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 956-5500	913	39	23.4	42.5%	465 (50.9%)	7 (0.8%)	246 (26.9%)	75 (8.2%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (0.7%)	114 (12.5%)	$15,245			$705			$14,540	79	82.2	1064	131		063588006144
1196	Ruhkala Elementary	Public	K-6	6530 Turnstone Way	Rocklin	95765	Placer County	Rocklin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 632-6560	334	16	20.7	27.8%	179 (53.6%)	7 (2.1%)	63 (18.9%)	22 (6.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (18.9%)	$17,328			$291			$17,037	78.9	88.3	799	397		060001311009
1197	Deer Canyon Elementary	Public	K-6	10225 Hamilton St.	Alta Loma	91701	San Bernardino County	Alta Loma Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 484-5030	496	19	26.3	45.8%	115 (23.2%)	22 (4.4%)	257 (51.8%)	76 (15.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (5.2%)	$14,860			$899			$13,961	78.9	76.5	1312	115		060216007640
1198	Raymond Case Elementary	Public	K-6	8565 Shasta Lily Dr.	Elk Grove	95624	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 681-8820	751	30	25	67.9%	63 (8.4%)	66 (8.8%)	172 (22.9%)	356 (47.4%)	1 (0.1%)	22 (2.9%)	71 (9.5%)	$15,981			$1,758			$14,223	78.9	79.6	1170	28		061233008572
1199	John Swett Elementary	Public	K-5	4955 Alhambra Valley Rd.	Martinez	94553	Contra Costa County	Martinez Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 335-5860	533	24	21.8	22.5%	273 (51.2%)	5 (0.9%)	146 (27.4%)	32 (6.0%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	74 (13.9%)	$16,172			$1,133			$15,039	78.9	69.2	1627	428		062403003614
1200	Frank Sparkes Elementary	Public	K-5	7265 West Almond Ave.	Winton	95388	Merced County	Winton	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 357-6180	422	18	23.4	92.7%	21 (5.0%)	2 (0.5%)	377 (89.3%)	20 (4.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	$15,868			$790			$15,078	78.9	73.7	1423	223		064296006988

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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:

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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