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
1	North Star Academy	Public	3-8	400 Duane St.	Redwood City	94062	San Mateo County	Redwood City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 482-2411	527	20	25.9	8.7%	261 (49.5%)	0 (0.0%)	70 (13.3%)	108 (20.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	87 (16.5%)	$19,422			$2,234			$17,188	100.0%	99.9%	0.07%			063213007422
2	Wildwood Elementary	Public	K-5	301 Wildwood Ave.	Piedmont	94611	Alameda County	Piedmont City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 594-2780	291	17	17.4	3.8%	139 (47.8%)	5 (1.7%)	33 (11.3%)	42 (14.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	72 (24.7%)	$19,904			$1,089			$18,815	99.9%	97.2%	2.71%			063033004733
3	Wade Thomas Elementary	Public	K-5	150 Ross Ave.	San Anselmo	94960	Marin County	Ross Valley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 454-4603	292	13	22.4	7.2%	216 (74.0%)	2 (0.7%)	33 (11.3%)	9 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (10.3%)	$16,587			$526			$16,061	99.9%	98.5%	1.36%			060000608776
4	Carver Elementary	Public	K-5	3100 Huntington Dr.	San Marino	91108	Los Angeles County	San Marino Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 299-7080	777	36	21.5	10.8%	103 (13.3%)	4 (0.5%)	50 (6.4%)	520 (66.9%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	98 (12.6%)	$15,263			$623			$14,640	99.9%	99.4%	0.51%			063486005884
5	Torrey Pines Elementary	Public	K-5	8350 Cliffridge Ave.	La Jolla	92037	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 605-3700	465	19	24.4	16.8%	217 (46.7%)	0 (0.0%)	83 (17.8%)	102 (21.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (13.5%)	$18,674			$2,289			$16,385	99.8%	97.6%	2.23%			063432005561
6	Lang Ranch	Public	K-5	2450 Whitechapel Pl.	Thousand Oaks	91362	Ventura County	Conejo Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 241-4417	723	33	22.2	18.7%	412 (57.0%)	6 (0.8%)	104 (14.4%)	126 (17.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	74 (10.2%)	$14,826			$1,083			$13,743	99.8%	98.0%	1.84%			060964007933
7	Richard Henry Lee Elementary	Public	K-5	11481 Foster Rd.	Los Alamitos	90720	Orange County	Los Alamitos Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 799-4540	603	23	26.2	19.1%	193 (32.0%)	8 (1.3%)	195 (32.3%)	118 (19.6%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.5%)	84 (13.9%)	$14,309			$517			$13,792	99.8%	97.5%	2.26%			062259000794
8	Crocker Highlands Elementary	Public	K-5	525 Midcrest Rd.	Oakland	94610	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-3111	415	17	24.4	22.4%	163 (39.3%)	37 (8.9%)	54 (13.0%)	57 (13.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	104 (25.1%)	$22,366			$3,865			$18,501	99.7%	91.9%	7.85%			062805004253
9	Newcomb Academy	Public	K-8	3351 Val Verde Ave.	Long Beach	90808	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 430-1250	914	37	24.8	20.1%	283 (31.0%)	56 (6.1%)	339 (37.1%)	110 (12.0%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.4%)	121 (13.2%)	$19,906			$3,894			$16,012	99.7%	95.2%	4.50%			062250002749
10	Anza Elementary	Public	K-5	21400 Ellinwood Dr.	Torrance	90503	Los Angeles County	Torrance Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 533-4559	613	26	24	14.8%	171 (27.9%)	15 (2.4%)	111 (18.1%)	238 (38.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	77 (12.6%)	$16,138			$528			$15,610	99.6%	94.7%	4.98%			063942006550

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.