Best Elementary 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 2847)	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
2847	Dr. Oscar F. Loya Elementary	Public	K-6	1505 Cougar Dr.	Salinas	93905	Monterey County	Alisal Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 751-1945	573	27	21.6	89.2%	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	562 (98.1%)	8 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	$22,054			$3,691			$18,363	0.0%	23.6%	23.65%			060195008530
2846	Whitney Avenue Elementary	Public	K-5	4248 Whitney Ave.	Sacramento	95821	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 575-2407	411	17	24.1	85.2%	92 (22.4%)	59 (14.4%)	95 (23.1%)	133 (32.4%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (1.0%)	27 (6.6%)	$17,794			$3,788			$14,006	0.0%	2.5%	2.42%			063462005826
2845	Wild Rose School of Creative	Public	K-5	232 Jasmine Ave.	Monrovia	91016	Los Angeles County	Monrovia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 471-2500	416	19	21.4	66.3%	58 (13.9%)	13 (3.1%)	299 (71.9%)	25 (6.0%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	19 (4.6%)	$18,443			$2,146			$16,297	0.1%	38.9%	38.84%			062532003783
2844	Mintie White Elementary	Public	K-5	515 Palm Ave.	Watsonville	95076	Santa Cruz County	Pajaro Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 728-6321	493	22	22.3	94.1%	23 (4.7%)	1 (0.2%)	459 (93.1%)	5 (1.0%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)								0.1%	1.3%	1.24%			062949004546
2843	Ohlone Elementary	Public	K-6	21 Bay Farms Rd.	Watsonville	95076	Monterey County	Pajaro Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 728-6977	391	19	20.8	96.7%	7 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	380 (97.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.5%)								0.1%	3.8%	3.68%			062949009600
2842	Martin Luther King Junior Elementary	Public	K-5	960 Tenth St.	Oakland	94607	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-2182	296	17	17.4	98.6%	62 (20.9%)	143 (48.3%)	45 (15.2%)	17 (5.7%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.4%)	25 (8.4%)	$27,800			$4,565			$23,235	0.2%	0.7%	0.49%			062805004297
2841	Golden West Elementary	Public	K-8	1031 North Main St.	Manteca	95336	San Joaquin County	Manteca Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 858-7300	591	26	22.4	71.2%	100 (16.9%)	14 (2.4%)	415 (70.2%)	40 (6.8%)	4 (0.7%)	3 (0.5%)	15 (2.5%)	$16,522			$2,465			$14,057	0.2%	4.5%	4.31%			062361003579
2840	Fay Elementary	Public	K-5	4080 52nd St.	San Diego	92105	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 624-2600	514	19	27	96.1%	13 (2.5%)	125 (24.3%)	312 (60.7%)	38 (7.4%)	3 (0.6%)	5 (1.0%)	18 (3.5%)	$20,041			$3,992			$16,049	0.2%	13.2%	12.93%			063432005484
2838	Ansgar Larsen Elementary	Public	K-5	550 East Thomas Ave.	Oxnard	93033	Ventura County	Hueneme Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 986-8740	538	27	20.1	87.7%	9 (1.7%)	2 (0.4%)	515 (95.7%)	8 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)	$20,707			$1,685			$19,022	0.3%	10.3%	9.95%			061785002204
2838	Thomas P. Ryan Elementary	Public	K-5	1241 McGinness Ave.	San Jose	95127	Santa Clara County	Alum Rock Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 928-8650	247	13	19	83.8%	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	220 (89.1%)	20 (8.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.6%)	$23,024			$3,182			$19,842	0.3%	6.1%	5.76%			060231000120

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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 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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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