NCES CCD 2024-25 20 schools CA

Best-Resourced Schools in Sunnyvale, CA

Compiled from official source data by .

20 public K-12 schools in Sunnyvale 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
20
Schools
12,805
Students
35.9/100
Avg Resource Index
20.8:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Lean reported-resource profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Sunnyvale has more public-school enrollment than 86% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Sunnyvale'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

13 of Sunnyvale's 20 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 4 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 46-point gap between Community Day and Ponderosa Elementary shows the range hidden by Sunnyvale'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 14%
School count
Top 15%
Resource Index average
28th percentile
Teacher staffing
12th percentile

Fremont High accounts for 16.1% of all Sunnyvale public-school enrollment

That concentration means Sunnyvale-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

Sunnyvale school enrollment varies 343× across entities

Sunnyvale school enrollment ranges from 6 students (lowest) to 2,060 students (highest), a spread of 2,054 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

Sunnyvale operates 5 school districts — among the most fragmented governance structures in the country

Each school district has independent budgeting, hiring, and service delivery authority. The fragmentation reflects historical patterns of inter-municipal boundary lines that pre-date modern city growth, students in different parts of the same city can attend different districts with different per-pupil spending, calendars, and graduation requirements. Per-region variation is largest in fragmented systems because each school district sets its own budget, contracts, and priorities without higher-level coordination above the regulatory floor.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Sunnyvale student-teacher ratio is 20.8:1 — 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. Community Day 68
2. Sunnyvale Middle 48
3. Fairwood Elementary 44
4. Cherry Chase Elementary 43
5. Columbia Middle 42
6. Cumberland Elementary 42
7. Marian a. Peterson Middle 41
8. West Valley Elementary 41
9. San Miguel Elementary 35
10. Cupertino Middle 33
11. Louis E. Stocklmeir Elementary 32
12. Ellis Elementary 32
13. Bishop Elementary 32
14. Lakewood Elementary 32
15. Vargas Elementary 30
16. Braly Elementary 27
17. Chester W. Nimitz Elementary 26
18. Fremont High 24
19. Summit Public School: Denali 23
20. Ponderosa Elementary 22

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Sunnyvale

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 Sunnyvale Middle 72.8/100
  2. 2 Fairwood Elementary 72.7/100
  3. 3 Chester W. Nimitz Elementary 70.2/100
  4. 4 Cumberland Elementary 69.0/100
  5. 5 Ponderosa Elementary 68.9/100

What do families ask about schools in Sunnyvale?

Which Sunnyvale school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Community Day has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Sunnyvale schools in this federal-data comparison at 68/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Sunnyvale, CA? ▼

Sunnyvale has 20 public schools with a total enrollment of 12,805 students. 1 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 20.8:1.

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.