California schools

Look up any of the 9,813 California public and charter schools we list.

See each school’s results, where each number comes from, and what the numbers can’t show.

Use my locationSchools near you, nearest first. Your browser asks first.

Also 3,051 private schools, listed and never scored. 2025–26 data from the California Department of Education and 33 other public datasets. Updated October 15, 2026.

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What are you trying to figure out?

Moving

We found a house. Are the schools good there?

Search a city or ZIP and we list every school nearby (public, charter and private), nearest first, never by score. Then check enrollment with the district.

Search by city or ZIPOpen the map

2025–26 CDE school directory and NCES private school survey. Straight-line distance; ask the district which school serves your address.

Choosing

Charter, magnet, or the school down the street?

Your address sets your neighborhood school. Magnets and charters take applications, each on its own date. Where we’ve read a school’s deadline, its profile shows the date and where to apply.

Compare schools side by side

Charter dates read from each school’s own website, with the link and the date we read it.

Checking a rating · an example

Two schools, similar headline numbers. Are they the same?

In English (reading and writing), grades 3–5, spring 2026, McKinley Elementary in Santa Monica and Eastbluff Elementary in Newport Beach had 68% and 63% Proficient or Advanced. At McKinley, 50% scored Advanced; at Eastbluff, 28%.

McKinley Elementary50% Advanced · 18% Proficient · 18% Developing level · 14% Minimal

Eastbluff Elementary28% Advanced · 35% Proficient · 23% Developing level · 14% Minimal

English:AdvancedProficientDeveloping level (formerly Nearly met)Minimal

Why the same share Proficient or Advanced can mean two different schools

CAASPP English, grades 3–5, spring 2026. McKinley: 83rd percentile · Strong. Eastbluff: 78th percentile · Strong.

The Scope Score

What goes into a Scope Score, and what stays out?

Each level’s score is a weighted mix of its own measures. Pick a level to see them.

The score becomes a percentile among schools at the same level, and the percentile becomes a band. Each band holds a quarter of schools.

  • Needs SupportBelow the 25th percentile
  • Developing25th to 49th percentile
  • Solid50th to 74th percentile
  • Strong75th percentile and up
How California schools are scored

Elementary schools · six measures · tested grades 3–5

In the scoreShare of the score
  1. Students who scored Advanced42%State tests in English and math, grades 3⁠–⁠5
  2. Students who scored Proficient or Advanced23%The same tests
  3. 5th graders compared with the school’s 3rd graders two years earlier20%Partly different children
  4. Students chronically absent5%Missed 10% or more of school days
  5. Students suspended5%At least once during the year
  6. English learners reaching the top level of the state’s English test5%The top of its four levels

Shown beside the score, never counted in it: who attends, gaps between groups and spending.

Source: California Department of Education: CAASPP, ELPAC, chronic absence and suspensions.

Middle schools · six measures · tested grades 6–8

In the scoreShare of the score
  1. Students who scored Advanced42%State tests in English and math, grades 6⁠–⁠8
  2. Students who scored Proficient or Advanced23%The same tests
  3. 8th graders compared with the school’s 6th graders two years earlier20%Partly different children
  4. Students chronically absent5%Missed 10% or more of school days
  5. Students suspended5%At least once during the year
  6. English learners reaching the top level of the state’s English test5%The top of its four levels

Shown beside the score, never counted in it: who attends, gaps between groups and spending.

Source: California Department of Education: CAASPP, ELPAC, chronic absence and suspensions.

High schools · seven measures · tested grade 11

In the scoreShare of the score
  1. Students who exceeded the standard22%State tests in English and math, grade 11
  2. Students who met or exceeded it18%The same tests
  3. Students who graduate25%Within four years of starting high school
  4. Students ready for college or a career20%The state’s readiness measure
  5. Students chronically absent5%Missed 10% or more of school days
  6. Students suspended5%At least once during the year
  7. English learners reaching the top level of the state’s English test5%The top of its four levels

Shown beside the score, never counted in it: who attends, gaps between groups and spending.

Source: California Department of Education: CAASPP, ELPAC, chronic absence, suspensions, the adjusted cohort graduation rate and the College/Career Indicator.

What the score can’t see: your child’s teacher, arts, clubs and daily life, whether the special-education services in a child’s plan (an IEP) reach the classroom, whether your child will belong.

Sources and corrections

When we get something wrong, the correction stays on the page it fixes, dated, with what changed.

All 34 sourcesChangelogData updates

What won’t we do?

  • Sell a better score. No one can pay to change a school’s score, its rank or its place on a list.
  • Score private schools on tests they don’t take. We show what they do report, and say what’s missing.
  • Score schools where students are placed. California’s 368 court, community, special-education and home-and-hospital schools get no score, band, pattern or rank; we publish their records.
  • Rate individual teachers. No ratings, reviews or records of named teachers.

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Bri Stanback, founder of SchoolScope

“As a parent looking at schools, I wanted to understand what drove a score, and what it missed.”

Bri Stanback, data scientist, parent and founder · About · Spot something wrong? Tell us

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