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.

Alert! We are expecting the release of this year's test scores by the California Department of Education any day now! We will update our rankings as soon as they are released!

Alert! New test scores and rankings are expected from the California Department of Education any day now!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2018)							Ranking (2023 vs 2022)
ID	Rank (of 5874)	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 (2023)	Average Standard Score (2022)	Rank (2022)	Rank Change from 2022	SchoolDigger Rating (2023)
061029001133	1	William Faria Elementary	Public	K-5	10155 Barbara Ln.	Cupertino	95014	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 252-0706	632	25	25	12.0%	14 (2.2%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	576 (91.1%)	10 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (4.4%)	$5,934							99.5	99.5	2	1
063213007422	2	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	519	19	27.2	9.4%	259 (49.9%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (12.1%)	120 (23.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	76 (14.6%)								99.5	99.3	7	5
062961004581	3	Herbert Hoover Elementary	Public	K-5	445 East Charleston Rd.	Palo Alto	94306	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 320-8106	386	21	18.5	6.2%	34 (8.8%)	3 (0.8%)	22 (5.7%)	290 (75.1%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	35 (9.1%)	$11,107							99.4	98.8	34	31
061029005406	4	Murdock-Portal Elementary	Public	K-5	1188 Wunderlich Dr.	San Jose	95129	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 973-8191	559	22	24.8	7.7%	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	496 (88.7%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (9.8%)	$6,858							99.4	99.5	3	1
060927000939	5	Cold Spring Elementary	Public	K-6	2243 Sycamore Canyon Rd.	Santa Barbara	93108	Santa Barbara County	Cold Spring Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 969-2678	193	16	12.1	5.2%	145 (75.1%)	1 (0.5%)	16 (8.3%)	5 (2.6%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (13.0%)	$23,655							99.3	99.1	17	12
062271002833	6	Balboa Gifted/High Ability Magnet Elementary	Public	1-5	17020 Labrador St.	Northridge	91325	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 349-4801	686	27	25.4	22.4%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,744							99.3	99	19	13
063543006044	7	Millikin Elementary	Public	K-5	615 Hobart Terrace	Santa Clara	95051	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-1800	518	22	23.5	7.7%	32 (6.2%)	6 (1.2%)	11 (2.1%)	443 (85.5%)	6 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (3.9%)	$8,165							99.3	99.4	4	3
062265002790	8	Springer Elementary	Public	K-6	1120 Rose Ave.	Mountain View	94040	Santa Clara County	Los Altos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 943-4200	335	20	16.6	3.3%	139 (41.5%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (4.2%)	127 (37.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	53 (15.8%)	$15,398							99.3	99.4	6	2
060627014309	9	Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	7701 Silva Valley Pkwy.	El Dorado Hills	95762	El Dorado County	Buckeye Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 933-9746	124	9	14.5	13.7%	27 (21.8%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.6%)	62 (50.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (22.6%)								99.3	98.7	43	34
062265002788	10	Oak Avenue Elementary	Public	K-6	1501 Oak Ave.	Los Altos	94024	Santa Clara County	Los Altos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 237-3900	332	17	20.1	3.9%	109 (32.8%)	2 (0.6%)	18 (5.4%)	153 (46.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	49 (14.8%)	$14,230							99.2	99.1	16	6

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner 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 18, 2023, 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

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.