California schools

See the school. Beyond the score.

A school’s rating is a handful of results stacked into one number. We pull them apart, show where each comes from, and name what none of them can see.

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

2025–26: 9,894 public and charter schools and 2,421 private schools, from the California Department of Education and 29 other public datasets. Updated October 15, 2026.

Applying for 2027–28

How charters, magnets and lotteries work
  1. LAUSD ChoicesMagnets, dual language, affiliated charters
  2. San Diego UnifiedSchool choice window
  3. Long Beach Unified9th-grade applications
  4. San Francisco UnifiedApplications

Each district runs its own calendar. Charter schools take their own applications: of the 178 application dates we’ve read from 126 charter schools’ websites, February is the most common month. Track your applications

Start here

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; check zoning with the district.

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, and each school’s profile shows its 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, both at 62%. Are they the same?

Taking our average of reading and writing and math, 62% of students met or exceeded the standard at both McKinley Elementary in Santa Monica and Eastbluff Elementary in Newport Beach. At McKinley, 45% exceeded it; at Eastbluff, 24%.

McKinley Elementary45% exceeded · 17% met · 38% below

Eastbluff Elementary24% exceeded · 38% met · 38% below

ExceededMetBelow the standard

Why the split matters

CAASPP 2025–26, grades 3–5, our average of the two subjects. McKinley: 83rd percentile · Strong. Eastbluff: 78th percentile · Strong.

How the score is built

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

Each level has its own recipe. Pick one to see it.

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 results · tested grades 3–5

In the scoreShare of the score
  1. Students who exceeded the standard42%State tests in English and math, grades 3–5
  2. Students who met or exceeded it23%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 level5%Of the state’s English test
  7. Who attends, gaps between groups, spending0%Shown beside the score, never counted in it

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

Middle schools · six results · tested grades 6–8

In the scoreShare of the score
  1. Students who exceeded the standard42%State tests in English and math, grades 6–8
  2. Students who met or exceeded it23%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 level5%Of the state’s English test
  7. Who attends, gaps between groups, spending0%Shown beside the score, never counted in it

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

High schools · seven results · 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 level5%Of the state’s English test
  8. Who attends, gaps between groups, spending0%Shown beside the score, never counted in it

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 IEP services reach the classroom, whether your child will belong.

Show your work

When we get something wrong, the correction stays on the page it fixes, dated, with what changed. We’re adding states one at a time, because each one tests differently.

All 30 sourcesChangelogData updates

What we stand on

A short list of things we won’t 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.
  • Rank schools where enrollment is assigned. For 368 court, community and special-education schools, we publish the evidence and withhold the rank.
  • Rate individual teachers. No ratings, reviews or records of named teachers.
  • Pass off a guess as a fact. Every profile says what its numbers can’t tell you, and ends with a question to ask on a visit.

Guides

Plain answers to common school questions.

All guides

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Find California schools.

Passing the numbers on?ReportersAI assistantsDevelopers

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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