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CHARTER vs DISTRICT · CALIFORNIA

California charter schools, ranked

Every California charter with a BeatsExpectations score, best to worst, against what its student demographics predict.

Charters ranked
60
with a BeatsExpectations score
Charter sector vs district
-1.9 pp
charters trail on average
Top charter
+44.6 pp
Sixth Street Prep
CA CHARTER SCHOOLS RANKED BY BEATSEXPECTATIONS
SchoolCity% FRL% ProficientBeats (pp) ↓
Sixth Street PrepVictorville74.2%79.9%44.6
Reedley Middle College HighReedley71.0%75.0%37.8
Hawthorne Math and Science AcademyHawthorne83.1%67.8%37.7
Harmony Magnet AcademyStrathmore73.1%69.7%33.7
Stockton Early College AcademyStockton64.5%74.7%33.7
Washington Middle College HighWest Sacramento68.4%71.4%32.7
Western Center AcademyHemet57.7%73.9%28.8
Petaluma Accelerated CharterPetaluma27.8%90.7%27.8
Cielo Vista CharterPalm Springs92.7%48.5%24.2
Alfred B. Nobel Charter MiddleNorthridge57.1%69.0%23.5
Lincoln ElementaryKingsburg70.1%60.9%23.2
Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion CharterEl Dorado Hills8.9%97.3%23
Pacific Law AcademyStockton61.3%65.9%23
Beckford Charter for Enriched StudiesNorthridge29.9%81.7%20.1
Welby Way Charter Elem Sch And Gifted-High Ability MagnetWest Hills28.6%82.3%19.8
Van Gogh CharterGranada Hills48.9%70.2%19.8
Dearborn Elementary Charter AcademyNorthridge72.1%56.3%19.8
Superior Street ElementaryChatsworth62.3%61.5%19.1
Colfax Charter ElementaryValley Village30.7%79.9%18.7
George Washington CharterPalm Desert50.3%67.7%18.1
Mountain View Montessori CharterVictorville58.6%62.2%17.7
Justice Street Academy CharterWest Hills41.9%72.0%17.5
Community Magnet Charter ElementaryLos Angeles25.2%81.2%16.6
Quail Lake Environmental CharterClovis31.2%76.5%15.6
Grover Cleveland Charter HighReseda71.5%51.9%15
Topeka Charter School for Advanced StudiesNorthridge44.1%67.6%14.4
Del Vista Math and Science AcademyDelano89.9%40.2%14.3
Paradise CharterModesto62.7%55.5%13.3
South Bay CharterEureka93.2%36.7%12.7
Nestle Avenue CharterTarzana72.2%49.0%12.5
University Preparatory HighVisalia37.5%69.6%12.4
Island ElementaryLemoore50.4%61.7%12.2
Nueva Vista Language AcademyDelano80.4%43.7%12.1
Santa Rosa Accelerated CharterSanta Rosa14.8%82.7%12
Dr. Theodore T. Alexander Jr. Science CenterLos Angeles86.4%40.0%11.9
Diamond Technology InstituteWatsonville77.0%45.2%11.6
Woodland Hills Elementary Charter for Enriched StudiesWoodland Hills30.6%72.9%11.6
Canyon Charter ElementarySanta Monica15.6%81.7%11.5
Calabash Charter AcademyWoodland Hills32.5%71.5%11.4
Palisades Charter ElementaryPacific Palisades16.9%80.8%11.3
Kenter Canyon Elementary CharterLos Angeles13.2%82.9%11.3
Minarets Charter HighO'Neals53.3%58.9%11.2
Gaspar De Portola Charter MiddleTarzana49.0%61.4%11.1
Reseda Charter HighReseda88.3%37.9%11
Forest Hill ElementarySan Jose15.0%81.5%11
Carpenter Community CharterStudio City13.2%82.6%10.9
Westside Preparatory CharterRio Linda81.0%41.5%10.3
Liberty ElementaryPetaluma19.1%78.4%10.3
Sanger Academy CharterSanger69.0%48.5%10.1
City Honors International Preparatory HighInglewood82.2%40.6%10
Smythe Academy of Arts and SciencesSacramento92.2%34.5%10
El Rancho CharterAnaheim32.1%70.3%9.9
Alvina Elementary CharterCaruthers82.2%40.3%9.8
Castlebay Lane CharterPorter Ranch26.7%73.3%9.8
Topanga Elementary CharterTopanga25.9%73.2%9.1
Marquez CharterPacific Palisades16.6%78.5%8.8
Marshall Lane ElementarySaratoga11.7%81.1%8.6
Westwood Charter ElementaryLos Angeles19.6%76.1%8.2
Paul Revere Charter MiddleLos Angeles31.5%68.4%7.7
Capri ElementaryCampbell31.7%68.2%7.6
60 of 60 rows · Every scored charter in CA (top 60 by residual), best to worst. "Beats" is the percentage-point gap between a school's actual proficiency and what the per-state regression predicts from its FRL share. Sort ascending to see the state's weakest charters. Worst charter shown: Capri Elementary (+7.6 pp).↓ Download charter-vs-district-by-state-ca.csv

What "Beats" means here

Ranking charter schools by raw proficiency mostly ranks them by the families they enroll. To compare a charter to the district schools it actually competes with, we use BeatsExpectations: a per-state regression of school proficiency on free-and-reduced-lunch share. It predicts the proficiency a school "should" post given its poverty profile, and the residual, in percentage points, is how far above or below that line the school actually lands. A charter at +15 is beating its demographics; one at -15 is trailing them. The table above ranks every scored California charter on that residual. Sort ascending to see the weakest performers.

How California charters compare to district schools

The headline stat is the charter sector's average residual minus the district sector's. A positive number means California charters, on average, beat their demographics by more than the state's district schools do; a negative number means they trail. The national picture is genuinely mixed: charters beat district schools handily in some states (New York is the clearest case) and trail them badly in others (Ohio and Pennsylvania, where troubled cyber-charter sectors drag the average down). See the national report for every state side by side.

Limits

BeatsExpectations controls for poverty, but not for everything that separates charters from district schools: charters can have application and lottery processes, different special-education and English-learner shares, and different mid-year attrition. A high residual is strong evidence a school is doing something right, but it is not proof the same students would have done worse down the street. Treat this as the fairest single comparison available from public data, not a settled verdict on school choice.

Source data

NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25 (charter flag, FRL share, enrollment) and California's native state assessment for the most recent available year. The BeatsExpectations regression is recomputed after every data refresh.

HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT

Anyone is welcome to cite or republish these findings. Please credit allk12.com and link back to this page so readers can verify the underlying data.

allk12 (2026). "California charter schools, ranked by BeatsExpectations." Retrieved from https://allk12.com/reports/charter-vs-district/california
For interview requests or custom data pulls: [email protected]
DOWNLOAD THE DATA
↓ charter-vs-district-by-state-ca.csv
RELATED
Charter vs district by state · Best California schools · California test scores · All California schools
DATA NOTICE

allk12 is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NCES, the US Census Bureau, any state education agency or assessment program, or any other government agency. Source data is compiled from public records and provided "as is," without warranty of accuracy or completeness. You rely on it, and any analysis derived from it, at your own risk. See the full disclaimer.