Webster (Daniel) Elementary vs Sutro Elementary

Sutro Elementary ranks #50 out of 9,533 California schools, placing it in the top 1% statewide with an overall rating of 9.4/10. Webster (Daniel) Elementary earns a 9.0/10 and sits at #240 in California — still a top 3% school, but 190 positions below Sutro in the state rankings. That 0.4-point overall gap is meaningful given both schools occupy the upper tier, and parents comparing the two should treat it as a signal worth examining at the component level.

The sharpest divergence between the two schools is academic proficiency. Sutro Elementary scores 9.7/10 on academics versus Webster (Daniel) Elementary's 8.0/10 — a 1.7-point gap that reflects a substantial difference in tested achievement. Growth scores, by contrast, are nearly identical: Webster (Daniel) Elementary earns a 9.8/10 versus Sutro Elementary's 9.7/10, meaning both schools are equally effective at advancing students beyond their starting points. A child who arrives behind grade level is likely to make strong progress at either campus.

Webster (Daniel) Elementary enrolls 356 students compared to Sutro Elementary's 248, making it the larger campus by 108 students. Student-teacher ratios are close — 22.2:1 at Webster versus 22.5:1 at Sutro — so class size alone is not a differentiator. The economic profile of the two student bodies differs considerably: Sutro Elementary's free and reduced-price lunch rate is 64%, more than double Webster (Daniel) Elementary's 31%. That gap signals a meaningfully different family income mix and may affect the types of support services, Title I funding, and community resources each school receives.

Both schools serve kindergarten through fifth grade across the same San Francisco Unified district, separated by 4.4 miles. Because grade span and district affiliation are identical, the decision turns on the academic and demographic differences above rather than structural factors. Families prioritizing the highest tested-achievement ceiling will find Sutro Elementary's 9.7/10 academic score compelling; those weighing trajectory and growth equally with raw proficiency will note that Webster (Daniel) Elementary's 9.8/10 growth score matches Sutro at the top of the scale.