Best High Schools in California for Special Education Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in California!

Every year, the California Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Special Education students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

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 (Special Education vs All Students - 2025)					ID
Rank (of 1252)	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	Statewide Rank Percentile (Special Education)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Special Education)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)	ID
1	Piedmont High	Public	9-12	800 Magnolia Ave.	Piedmont	94611	Alameda County	Piedmont City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 594-2626	733	41	17.8	3.5%	388 (52.9%)	17 (2.3%)	73 (10.0%)	118 (16.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	136 (18.6%)	$26,141			$676			$25,465	99.9%	99.2%	0.71%			063033004731
2	Alliance Leichtman-Levine Family Foundation Env Sci High	Public, Charter	9-12	2930 Fletcher Dr.	Los Angeles	90065	Los Angeles County	Alliance Leichtman-Levine FAM Foundation Env Sci High Distr	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 739-0560	296	19	15.8	87.2%	9 (3.0%)	3 (1.0%)	265 (89.5%)	14 (4.7%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.0%)	$21,579			$2,649			$18,930	99.8%	93.8%	6.04%			060169012342
3	Poway to Palomar Middle College High	Public	11-12	11111 Rancho Bernardo Rd.	San Diego	92127	San Diego County	Poway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 679-2531	88	2	36.5	19.3%	38 (43.2%)	1 (1.1%)	18 (20.5%)	21 (23.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (10.2%)	$19,341			$454			$18,887	99.8%	91.3%	8.50%			063153014646
4	New Designs Charter	Public, Charter	6-12	2303 South Figueroa Way	Los Angeles	90007	Los Angeles County	New Designs Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 765-9084	784	19	41.8	80.4%	15 (1.9%)	66 (8.4%)	624 (79.6%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	78 (9.9%)	$21,050			$1,908			$19,142	99.7%	75.3%	24.33%			060154810840
5	Coronado High	Public	9-12	650 D Ave.	Coronado	92118	San Diego County	Coronado Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 522-8907	999	55	18	14.6%	537 (53.8%)	16 (1.6%)	301 (30.1%)	30 (3.0%)	3 (0.3%)	2 (0.2%)	107 (10.7%)								99.6%	94.9%	4.69%			060987001071
6	Credo High	Public, Charter	9-12	1300 Valley House Dr. Ste. 100	Rohnert Park	94928	Sonoma County	Credo High District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 664-0600	441	32	13.6	28.3%	270 (61.2%)	4 (0.9%)	88 (20.0%)	5 (1.1%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	59 (13.4%)	$16,679			$469			$16,210	99.5%	92.3%	7.20%			060226912635
7	Method Schools LA	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	27232 Via Industria	Temecula	92590	Riverside County	Method Schools LA District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(951) 461-4620	227	16	14	50.7%	89 (39.2%)	27 (11.9%)	87 (38.3%)	10 (4.4%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.4%)	$29,042			$966			$28,076	99.4%	79.4%	20.07%			060215014259
7	Monta Vista High	Public	9-12	21840 McClellan Rd.	Cupertino	95014	Santa Clara County	Fremont Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 366-7600	1,630	68	23.9	6.0%	118 (7.2%)	1 (0.1%)	75 (4.6%)	1,282 (78.7%)	8 (0.5%)	6 (0.4%)	140 (8.6%)	$24,048			$326			$23,722	99.4%	97.8%	1.66%			061443001699
9	Lynbrook High	Public	9-12	1280 Johnson Ave.	San Jose	95129	Santa Clara County	Fremont Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 366-7700	1,702	74	23.1	6.5%	93 (5.5%)	5 (0.3%)	61 (3.6%)	1,395 (82.0%)	11 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	136 (8.0%)	$24,485			$466			$24,019	99.3%	99.1%	0.16%			061443001698
10	Henry M. Gunn High	Public	9-12	780 Arastradero Rd.	Palo Alto	94306	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 354-8200	1,643	100	16.4	11.7%	450 (27.4%)	20 (1.2%)	215 (13.1%)	765 (46.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.2%)	188 (11.4%)	$30,704			$1,048			$29,656	99.2%	98.1%	1.14%			062961004587

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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 Native American Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on CAST Science, Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 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

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.