Silver Strand Elementary earned the top spot among Coronado schools in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Elementary Schools rankings, placing No. 189 out of 5,920 ranked California elementary schools.

The rankings, released Oct. 20, scored the small K-5 campus at 1350 Leyte Road a 96.81 out of 100. That puts the 324-student school in the top 3.2% statewide.

Coronado's other elementary school, Coronado Village Elementary, ranked No. 580 with a score of 90.22 out of 100. Village serves 774 students at 600 Sixth St.

Both schools far outpaced state averages in reading and math. At Silver Strand, 79% of students scored at or above the proficient level in reading and 78% in math, according to U.S. News. Village posted 76% reading proficiency and 77% math proficiency. Statewide, just 44% of students tested proficient in reading and 38% in math.

U.S. News rated Silver Strand's performance "well above expectations" in both subjects. Village earned "well above expectations" in math and "somewhat above expectations" in reading.

Silver Strand Principal Jenny Moore leads the school, which is recognized as a Purple Star School for its support of military-connected students and families. Many of its students come from the neighboring Liberty Military Housing, according to the school's website. The campus is also a Project Lead the Way Distinguished School for its hands-on engineering program in the Innovation Lab.

The rankings methodology weighted math and reading proficiency at 50% of the overall score. The other half incorporated test results in the context of socioeconomic characteristics. Student-teacher ratios served as a tiebreaker. Eric Brooks, U.S. News director of education data analysis, said in a statement that the updated approach uses data collected directly from state education agencies to assess student performance across all proficiency levels.

Coronado Unified School District enrolls about 2,763 students across five schools. Superintendent Karl Mueller, now in his 11th year leading the district, and Village Elementary Principal Peter Kuhns have not publicly addressed the rankings.

California's top 10 elementary schools

For comparison, here are the 10 highest-ranked public elementary schools in California, according to U.S. News:

  1. Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter, El Dorado Hills
  2. Cold Spring Elementary, Santa Barbara
  3. Murdock-Portal Elementary, San Jose
  4. William Faria Elementary, Cupertino
  5. North Star Academy, Redwood City
  6. Herbert Hoover Elementary, Palo Alto
  7. Covington Elementary, Los Altos
  8. Bullis Charter, Los Altos
  9. Elkhorn, Stockton
  10. Jack L. Weaver Elementary, Los Alamitos