NCES CCD 2024-25 12 schools CA

Best-Resourced Schools in Santa Monica, CA

Compiled from official source data by .

12 public K-12 schools in Santa Monica from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
12
Schools
7,944
Students
36/100
Avg Resource Index
18.8:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Lean reported-resource profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Santa Monica has more public-school enrollment than 73% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Santa Monica'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.

The school portfolio is elementary-weighted

8 of Santa Monica's 12 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 2 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 25-point gap between Canyon Charter Elementary and Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) shows the range hidden by Santa Monica'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.

City enrollment
Top 27%
School count
Top 31%
Resource Index average
28th percentile
Teacher staffing
21st percentile

Santa Monica High accounts for 32.6% of all Santa Monica public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means Santa Monica-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Santa Monica school enrollment varies 86× across entities

Santa Monica school enrollment ranges from 30 students (lowest) to 2,588 students (highest), a spread of 2,558 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

Santa Monica student-teacher ratio is 18.8:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)

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.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Canyon Charter Elementary 53
2. John Adams Middle 39
3. Franklin Elementary 39
4. Lincoln Middle 38
5. Grant Elementary 35
6. Roosevelt Elementary 35
7. Olympic High (Continuation) 35
8. Will Rogers Elementary 34
9. Mckinley Elementary 34
10. Santa Monica High 33
11. Edison Elementary 29
12. Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) 28

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Santa Monica

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.

  1. 1 Mckinley Elementary 74.4/100
  2. 2 Santa Monica High 69.7/100
  3. 3 Will Rogers Elementary 69.2/100
  4. 4 Grant Elementary 68.1/100
  5. 5 John Adams Middle 65.2/100

What do families ask about schools in Santa Monica?

Which Santa Monica school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Canyon Charter Elementary has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Santa Monica schools in this federal-data comparison at 53/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Santa Monica, CA? ▼

Santa Monica has 12 public schools with a total enrollment of 7,944 students. 1 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 18.8:1.

Other Cities in California

Los Angeles
574 schools
San Diego
284 schools
San Jose
234 schools
Sacramento
197 schools
Fresno
180 schools
Bakersfield
146 schools

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.