Walnut Creek’s Tice Creek ranks 127th among California schools

Tice Creek School placed No. 127 out of 5,920 ranked California elementary schools in the 2027 U.S. News Best K-8 Schools rankings, ranking first among Walnut Creek School District elementary schools.

The K-8 school on Newell Avenue scored well above the statewide comparison figures displayed in its profile. Seventy-four percent of Tice Creek students reached the proficient level or above in math, and 79% hit that mark in reading on 2023-24 state assessments, according to the U.S. News profile. The profile lists statewide rates of 36% in math and 43% in reading.

Tice Creek also outperformed its own district in both subjects.

U.S. News rated Tice Creek’s elementary-level reading and math performance as “well above expectations” after accounting for student demographics. Its profile lists 451 students, a 21-to-1 student-teacher ratio and a 95% teacher certification rate.

Tice Creek is the only K-8 campus in the seven-school Walnut Creek School District. It uses project-based learning as its core instructional approach, according to the school’s website. Admission is lottery-based, and students must already attend a district school to apply, except for kindergartners.

The school’s official principal biography identifies Pam Davis as principal and describes her emphasis on hands-on learning, collaboration and solving real-world problems.

Other Walnut Creek elementary schools in the rankings include Walnut Heights Elementary, part of the Walnut Creek School District, which ranked No. 721 with 78% math proficiency and 71% reading proficiency.

Walnut Acres Elementary ranked No. 649 with 77% math and 79% reading proficiency. Walnut Acres has a Walnut Creek address but belongs to the Mt. Diablo Unified School District.

The U.S. News rankings cover nearly 47,000 elementary schools across the country. Schools are ranked at the state and district levels using four equally weighted factors: math proficiency, math performance, reading proficiency and reading performance.

Half the formula measures assessment results without demographic adjustments; the other half accounts for results in the context of socioeconomic demographics. There is no national elementary-school ranking.

California’s top 10 elementary schools in the 2027 U.S. News rankings