Name Your Top 3 Elementary Schools in Santa Clarita School District (daycare, home)

[mangobox]

Hi Everyone,

Doing some research on Santa Clarita Elementary Schools. If you live in the area or know anything about it, please list your top 3 picks for schools. It will help me and my family narrow down our search for a place to raise our young family.

And while you're at it, list the worst 3 Elementary schools in the district so we know where NOT to move.

Thanks!

[jessemh431]

I don't know about exact schools, but in general, Santa Clarita has some of the best schools in the area and is extremely family friendly and safe, so I don't believe any would be too bad. Maybe you could contact city council or some similar office and find out which has the highest test scores.

[Charles]

This may help a little. Re-center it for the California region (Santa Clarita) you are interested in. Pretty cool tool.

Colorado School Performance Maps

[mangobox]

Thanks for the tips. Any suggestions on preschools in the area? It's harder to get info on the web.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by mangobox

Thanks for the tips. Any suggestions on preschools in the area? It's harder to get info on the web.

Montessori.

[marimari123]

There are actually 4 different elementary school districts in Santa Clarita.

Newhall school district is for schools in Newhall, Stevenson Ranch, Westridge, and some parts of Valencia.
Castaic district is for Castaic schools.
Saugus school district is for Saugus, parts of Valencia, and parts of Canyon Country.
Sulphur Springs is for the rest of Canyon Country.

Best schools...you can get the API ranking which will show how the schools did on standardized tests. Academic Performance Index (API) (CA Dept of Education)

Based on test scores, the number 1 school in town, is Stevenson Ranch Elementary (in Stevenson Ranch) with an average score of 946 out of 1000. SR is also the best school in the Newhall district.

Charles Helmers (in North Valencia) is the best in Saugus distict with an average score of 907 out of 1000, giving it the 2nd highest test scores.

The 3rd highest scores are at Oak Hills Elementary in Westridge (Valencia) with scores at 899/1000. Oak Hills is part of the Newhall district. Number 4 in town is Pico Canyon with an average of 897/1000. Pico Canyon is located in Stevenson Ranch also. Pico Canyon is also part of the Newhall district.

So 3 out of the top 4 schools based on test scores are in the Newhall district. And those 3 schools are also in some of the most expensive neighborhoods in town (Stevenson Ranch and Westridge).

Worst scoring schools are in Canyon Country (sulphur springs) and parts of Newhall. And...those schools tend to be in the least expensive home neighborhoods.

If I were you, I'd try to move to Stevenson Ranch, Westridge, Or North Park (Valencia).

Preschools...in Santa Clarita, there is really just one school with THE reputation. That's Sunshine (Sunshine Day Camp in the Santa Clarita Valley). They have 2 locations. One is on Wiley Canyon (south end of Valencia) and one on Newhall Ranch Road (north Valencia). People fight to get their kids into Sunshine because of Sunshine's reputation. Sunshine has 3 components: Learning, Play, and Socialization. According to them, they're not just babysitting. Sunshine really pushes academics and character building.

There aren't really any good montessori schools in town. There are some that claim to be montessori but they're home-based daycare programs. As far as preschools go, I'd say Sunshine is #1 rated and Tutor Time is #2 in town. Some of the elementary schools in SC offer a Pre-K program for 4 year olds so the child gets used to their future elementary school.

Oh yeah...um...my kid goes to Sunshine and he'll be going to Oak Hills for Kindergarten. Maybe I'm a little biased.

But Stevenson Ranch Elementary does score MUCH higher than any other school in Santa Clarita.

Hope that helps..

mari