24 public K-12 schools in Santa Clara from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
National city placement
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Santa Clara has more public-school enrollment than 83% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Santa Clara's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.
16 of Santa Clara's 24 listed schools are elementary campuses. That composition means citywide enrollment and staffing averages are influenced more by early-grade operating patterns than by the city's 2 middle and 4 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.
The 51-point gap between Santa Clara Community Day and Scott Lane Elementary shows the range hidden by Santa Clara's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.
Santa Clara school enrollment ranges from 10 students (lowest) to 1,663 students (highest), a spread of 1,653 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
| # | School | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Santa Clara Community Day | 69 |
| 2. | Wilson Alternative | 57 |
| 3. | New Valley Continuation High | 51 |
| 4. | Mission Early College High | 42 |
| 5. | Santa Clara High | 39 |
| 6. | Buchser Middle | 39 |
| 7. | Sutter Elementary | 36 |
| 8. | Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary | 35 |
| 9. | Washington Open Elementary | 35 |
| 10. | Millikin Elementary | 34 |
| 11. | Bowers Elementary | 34 |
| 12. | Kathryn Hughes Elementary | 33 |
| 13. | C. W. Haman Elementary | 32 |
| 14. | Montague Elementary | 31 |
| 15. | Adrian Wilcox High | 30 |
| 16. | Westwood Elementary | 29 |
| 17. | Bracher Elementary | 29 |
| 18. | Don Callejon | 28 |
| 19. | Central Park Elementary | 28 |
| 20. | Pomeroy Elementary | 27 |
| 21. | Juan Cabrillo Middle | 26 |
| 22. | Laurelwood Elementary | 26 |
| 23. | Briarwood Elementary | 24 |
| 24. | Scott Lane Elementary | 18 |
Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.
Santa Clara Community Day has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Santa Clara schools in this federal-data comparison at 69/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Santa Clara has 24 public schools with a total enrollment of 11,170 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 18.9:1.
Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in California →
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.
