7,853 CA Schools Ranked For Grades K-8: See The U.S. News List

CALIFORNIA — More than 7,850 elementary and middle schools in the Golden State have been ranked among the best in California, according to a brand-new ranking released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

Nationally, California has 5,534 ranked elementary schools — the most of any state — followed by Texas at 4,446; New York at 2,211; Florida at 2,128; and Illinois at 2,038 schools. California also has the most ranked middle schools with 2,319, followed by Texas at 1,942; Illinois at 1,243; New York at 1,219; and Florida at 997.

For the inaugural list, U.S. News published rankings and data on more than 80,000 public elementary and middle schools across the United States.

Schools are ranked at the state and district levels. The best charter schools and best magnet schools ranked as stand-alone categories.

U.S. News ranked Petaluma Accelerated Charter as the highest in the state among schools in the entire state, according to the new list. Whitney Gretchen High was ranked no. 2.

Here’s a look at how elementary schools in California ranked:

See the full list here.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News used data from the U.S. Department of Education to analyze two areas at each school:

• Math and reading proficiency — or how well students perform on state assessments.
• Math and reading performance — or how well they perform compared with expectations.

Here's how middle schools in the Golden State stacked up:

See the full list here.

The state assessment data used in the rankings are from the 2018-19 school year and, therefore, predates any effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on test-taking.

Schools were also ranked by the district. Here are some of the elementary and middle schools in California that ranked no. 1 by district:

• Bret Harte Middle, San Jose Unified
• Bowditch Middle, San Mateo-Foster City
• Windemere Ranch Middle, San Ramon Valley Unified
• La Colina Junior High, Santa Barbara Unified
• Marian A. Peterson Middle, Santa Clara Unified
• Kunst (Tommie) Junior High, Santa Maria Bonita
• Rio Seco Elementary, Santee
• Hillside Middle, Simi Valley Unified
• Eastlake Middle, Sweetwater Union High

See the complete list of 2021’s Best K-8 Schools.