See what school rankings
won't show you.
GreatSchools gives you one number. We break it into seven dimensions — so you can see what that number actually means.
Available states
Expanding nationwide. California is live now.
How SchoolScope works
Three steps to finding the right school.
Search your school
Find any California elementary school by name, city, or district.
See the full picture
Seven dimensions across two lenses: Academic Performance (exceeded vs. met split, proficiency, growth) and School Climate (absenteeism, suspension, English Learner proficiency).
Compare with confidence
Side-by-side comparisons with transparent methodology. No mystery algorithms.
Why parents switch to SchoolScope
The data other sites don't show you.
Beyond the single number
We split "proficient" into exceeded vs. met. A school where 40% exceed standard looks very different from one where 40% meet it.
Track real growth
Our growth trajectory shows whether scores improve from grade 3 to 5. Some schools coast on incoming talent. Others actually add value.
The full picture
Chronic absenteeism and suspension rates reveal school culture that test scores alone can't. We weigh all of it in one Scope Score.
Top-ranked California schools
Based on our 6-dimension Scope Score analysis of 2025 CAASPP data.
Elementary
| # | School | Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hillsborough | 97 | #1 |
| 2 | Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter | 96 | #2 |
| 3 | Murdock-Portal Elementary | 95 | #3 |
| 4 | William Faria Elementary | 95 | #4 |
| 5 | Golden Elementary | 95 | #5 |
Middle
| # | School | Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julius Cordes Elementary | 97 | #1 |
| 2 | Sam H. Lawson Middle | 94 | #2 |
| 3 | The Pleasanton Virtual Academy | 94 | #3 |
| 4 | Science Academy STEM Magnet | 93 | #4 |
| 5 | Joaquin Miller Middle | 93 | #5 |
High School
| # | School | Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whitney (Gretchen) High | 97 | #1 |
| 2 | California Academy of Mathematics and Science | 96 | #2 |
| 3 | Science Academy STEM Magnet | 96 | #3 |
| 4 | Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy | 96 | #4 |
| 5 | Oxford Academy | 96 | #5 |
What makes SchoolScope different
We go deeper than letter grades and single numbers.
| Feature | SchoolScope | GreatSchools | Niche |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exceeded vs. Met split | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Grade-to-grade growth | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Chronic absenteeism | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Suspension rates | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Parent reviews | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| All 50 states | CA only | ✓ | ✓ |
| Private schools | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Facilities & athletics | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Embedded in Zillow | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom weight scoring | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Transparent methodology | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
| Free basic score | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
How we score
Seven dimensions across two lenses, weighted by what actually predicts school quality. Full methodology
% Exceeded Standard
The ceiling. Measures whether a school pushes strong students past proficiency, not just to it.
Proficiency (Met + Exceeded)
The floor. Are most students clearing the bar? Measures overall grade-level proficiency.
Growth G3 to G5
Is the school adding value, or coasting on incoming talent? Measures improvement across grades.
Chronic Absenteeism
School culture and family engagement. Lower is better — kids who show up learn more.
Suspension Rate
Discipline philosophy matters. High suspension rates signal punitive culture over supportive.
ELPAC Proficiency
English Learner progress. How well does the school support multilingual students toward fluency?
Baseline Proficiency
Additional floor weight ensuring raw proficiency counts in the overall picture.
From the blog
Data-driven takes on California schools.
What SchoolScope Can and Can't Tell You
We make real judgment calls about what school data means — and we own those opinions openly. Here's what our Scope Score captures, what it misses, and how to use it well.
Read more →Preschool vs TK vs Pre-K in California: What Parents Actually Need to Know (2026)
California's early education options explained: preschool, pre-K, Transitional Kindergarten, Head Start, and more. Age cutoffs, costs, research, and what actually matters.
Read more →Best School Districts in Los Angeles County (2026 Data)
The 20 highest-scoring school districts in LA County, ranked by Scope Score across all levels. Real 2025 CAASPP data, not reputation.
Read more →Schools that surprise you
High performance in communities that other rankings write off.
Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation
Wilmington64% free/reduced lunch · ranked #8 in California.
University Preparatory
Victorville68% free/reduced lunch · ranked #18 in California.
Stockton Early College Academy
Stockton65% free/reduced lunch · ranked #31 in California.
Public school data, analyzed in depth.
All data sourced from the California Department of Education. Scores reflect our analysis, not official CDE ratings.
Frequently asked questions
What is SchoolScope?
SchoolScope is a school performance analysis tool that uses California’s official public test data (CAASPP) to score schools across 7 dimensions grouped into two lenses — Academic Performance (exceeded standard rate, met+exceeded rate, growth trajectory, baseline proficiency) and School Climate (chronic absenteeism, suspension rate, ELPAC English Learner proficiency). It surfaces what sites like GreatSchools and Niche don’t show — the difference between schools that meet standard and schools that push kids past it.
How is SchoolScope different from GreatSchools?
SchoolScope separates “exceeded standard” from “met standard” — a distinction GreatSchools doesn’t make. A school where 60% of students exceed standard is fundamentally different from one where only 10% exceed. SchoolScope also tracks grade-to-grade growth trajectories and includes chronic absenteeism and suspension rates in the Scope Score. The full methodology is published transparently.
What data does SchoolScope use?
All data comes from official public sources: CAASPP Smarter Balanced test scores, chronic absenteeism rates, suspension rates, graduation rates (ACGR), and College/Career Indicator data from the California Department of Education (CDE), plus enrollment and demographics from the NCES Common Core of Data. The 2024-25 school year is the current data year.
Is SchoolScope free?
Yes. Basic Scope Scores, state rankings, and school profiles are free for all California schools. SchoolScope analyzes over 8,500 schools across elementary, middle, and high school levels.
What is the Scope Score?
The Scope Score is a 0–100 rating that combines multiple performance signals into a single number. For elementary and middle schools, it weighs exceeded standard rate (40%), proficiency (22%), growth trajectory (15%), chronic absenteeism (10%), ELPAC proficiency (5%), suspension rate (5%), and baseline proficiency (3%). High schools replace growth and baseline with graduation rate (25%) and college readiness (20%). See the full methodology.