Best Schools in Cupertino, California

Cupertino's public school system spans 13 ranked schools across all three grade bands — elementary, middle, and high school. The city-wide average score sits at 8.2 out of 10. Ten of the 13 ranked schools, or 77%, score 7.0 or higher, meaning strong options are distributed across the system rather than clustered at a single level or in one part of the city.

At the top, Cupertino High and Monta Vista High both score 9.1 — the highest marks in the city. The middle and elementary tiers match that strength: Sam H. Lawson Middle, D.J. Sedgwick Elementary, and C.B. Eaton Elementary all score 8.9. Top performers appear at every grade band, which means parents who choose a strong elementary school are already on a path toward a comparably strong middle and high school. The pipeline holds across all three levels.

The gap between the city's highest scorers (9.1) and the overall average (8.2) is less than one full point. That narrow spread signals a competitive floor, not just a competitive ceiling. Cupertino doesn't follow the pattern where two elite schools prop up an otherwise middling system — the 77% figure confirms the strength runs deep. For most families, the school assignment they receive will be a strong one, which shifts the school-choice question away from "which schools are worth considering" and toward "which is the right fit for my child."

For parents prioritizing the highest-ranked options, the high school decision comes down to a boundary question: Cupertino High and Monta Vista High score identically at 9.1, so the difference between them is entirely a matter of home address. At the elementary level, D.J. Sedgwick and C.B. Eaton lead the field at 8.9. Families zoned to either school, or to Lawson Middle, are already on a consistently high-performing path from the start of elementary school through graduation.