Inside the massive reading and math gap in California’s new school rankings

One California elementary school had nearly every student meet state standards in reading and math last spring — while another saw fewer than 5% of its students hit the mark, according to newly released test scores.

Cold Spring Elementary in Santa Barbara County topped the rankings, with 100% of tested students meeting or exceeding the state standard in English language arts and 98.97% doing so in math.

At the other end of the list, just 3.57% of students tested at San Mateo Park Elementary — located between San Francisco and San Jose — met the English standard, while 5.56% met the bar in math.

The rankings cover 8,682 public schools, including charter schools, based on the average percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards in English and math on the California Department of Education’s 2025-26 Smarter Balanced assessments.

Thirty-eight schools averaged 90% or higher, while 201 schools averaged below 10%. The typical school averaged about 40%, according to a data analysis of the newly released results by the California Post.

Statewide, 49.3% of students met or exceeded the English standard, compared with 38.4% in math, highlighting the challenges facing California schools as educators work to improve academic performance.

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But the dramatic differences between individual schools also reflect the unequal circumstances students face outside the classroom, according to Morgan Polikoff, a professor of education at the University of Southern California.

“On average, that’s absolutely true,” Polikoff said when asked whether schools in affluent neighborhoods tend to outperform those in disadvantaged communities. “It’s true in California, and it’s true everywhere.”

Cold Spring Elementary, the only school in its Santa Barbara County district, posted the highest scores in the state. All 97 students who took the English test met or exceeded the state standard, and 96 of 97 did so in math. Because the school is small, each student’s result moves its percentage by about one point.

Two Los Angeles County schools followed.

At Science Academy STEM Magnet in Los Angeles Unified, 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, or 99%.

Oxford Academy in Orange County’s Anaheim Union High School District ranked fourth. There, 98.9% of students met the English standard and 96.7% met the math standard.

Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter in El Dorado County, a charter school run by its local district, rounded out the top five. Of its 108 students tested, 105 met the standard in each subject, or 97.2%. Like Cold Spring, it’s a small school, with about 100 students tested.

At the other end of the rankings, San Mateo Park Elementary had the lowest scores of any regular school in California with at least 50 students tested.

Just 5 of the 140 students who took the English test met the standard, or 3.6%. In math, 8 of 144 did, or 5.6%. The school stands out within its own district: Across the San Mateo-Foster City School District, about half of students met the standard in each subject.

The next four schools were separated by less than two-tenths of a 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 had two schools in the bottom five.

At Barstow Junior High, 7.3% of 520 students met the English standard. In math, 11 of 516 students did, 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, 2 of 141 students did, or 1.4%, the lowest math result among the five schools.

Polikoff said schools serving disadvantaged communities face challenges beyond the classroom, such as poverty, homelessness and foster care. They also struggle to keep experienced teachers.

“The most experienced and the best teachers will often choose to work in more advantaged schools,” Polikoff said.