California’s top- and bottom-performing elementary schools showed a striking divide in newly released test results. At one school, nearly every student met state standards in reading and math last spring; at another, fewer than 5% reached the benchmark.
Cold Spring Elementary in Santa Barbara County led the state rankings. All tested students met or exceeded the standard in English language arts, while 98.97% reached the benchmark in math.
At the bottom was San Mateo Park Elementary, located between San Francisco and San Jose. Only 3.57% of students tested met the English standard, and 5.56% met the math standard.
The rankings include 8,682 California public schools, including charter schools. They are based on the average share of students who met or exceeded state standards in English and math on the California Department of Education’s 2025-26 Smarter Balanced assessments.
Thirty-eight schools posted average results of at least 90%, while 201 schools averaged below 10%. The typical school had an average proficiency rate of about 40%, according to a California Post analysis of the newly released data.
Across California, 49.3% of students met or exceeded the English standard, compared with 38.4% in math. The results underscore the continuing academic challenges facing schools and educators statewide.
The sharp differences from one school to another also reflect the unequal conditions students experience beyond the classroom, said Morgan Polikoff, a University of Southern California education professor.
“On average, that’s absolutely true,” Polikoff said when asked whether schools in affluent neighborhoods generally outperform those in disadvantaged communities. “It’s true in California, and it’s true everywhere.”
Cold Spring Elementary, the sole school in its Santa Barbara County district, recorded the highest results in California. Each of the 97 students who took the English assessment met or exceeded the state standard. In math, 96 of 97 students did so. Because the school is small, the performance of a single student changes its percentage by roughly one percentage point.
Two schools in Los Angeles County ranked next.
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At Science Academy STEM Magnet in the Los Angeles Unified School District, 98.8% of students met the English standard and 99.4% met the math standard. At Gretchen Whitney High in ABC Unified, 489 of 494 students met the standard in both subjects, representing 99%.
Oxford Academy, part of Orange County’s Anaheim Union High School District, placed fourth. The school posted an English proficiency rate of 98.9% and a math rate of 96.7%.
Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter in El Dorado County completed the top five. The district-run charter school had 105 of 108 tested students meet the standard in each subject, or 97.2%. Like Cold Spring, it is a small school, with about 100 students tested.
San Mateo Park Elementary had the lowest results among regular California schools with at least 50 tested students.
Only 5 of the 140 students who took the English assessment met the standard, a rate of 3.6%. In math, 8 of 144 students did so, or 5.6%. The school’s results were notably lower than those across its district: About half of students in the San Mateo-Foster City School District met the standard in each subject.
The next four schools were separated by less than two-tenths of a percentage point. At Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary in Oakland Unified, 4.3% of students met the English standard and 5% met the math standard.
Barstow Unified in San Bernardino County placed two schools among the five lowest performers.
At Barstow Junior High, 7.3% of 520 students met the English standard. In math, just 11 of 516 students did so, or 2.1%. At Crestline Elementary, 5.2% met the English standard and 4.4% met the math standard. A third Barstow school, Barstow Intermediate, ranked sixth from the bottom.
In Humboldt County, 8.3% of students at Hoopa Valley Elementary in the Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District met the English standard. In math, only 2 of 141 students did so, or 1.4%—the lowest math result among the five schools.
Polikoff said schools in disadvantaged communities often contend with challenges that extend well beyond academics, including poverty, homelessness and foster care. Such schools also face difficulties retaining experienced teachers.
“The most experienced and the best teachers will often choose to work in more advantaged schools,” Polikoff said.