Aragon Avenue Elementary vs Third Street Elementary

Third Street Elementary ranks #8 of 9,533 California schools, placing it among the state's top 0.1% of elementary programs. Aragon Avenue Elementary ranks #276 of 9,533 — a genuinely strong result that still trails Third Street by 268 positions. The overall rating gap between the two schools is 0.7 points, with Third Street Elementary scoring 9.6/10 against Aragon Avenue Elementary's 8.9/10. Both schools serve kindergarten through fifth grade across Los Angeles, about 6.5 miles apart.

The sharpest difference between the two schools is academic proficiency. Third Street Elementary scores a perfect 10.0/10 on the academic measure while Aragon Avenue Elementary scores 7.4/10 — a 2.6-point gap that reflects a substantial difference in tested achievement levels. Growth tells a different story: Aragon Avenue Elementary earns a 10.0/10 growth score against Third Street Elementary's 9.9/10, meaning students at Aragon are advancing at an effectively identical — and near-maximum — pace year over year. Parents weighing these two schools are largely choosing between a school that excels at raising all students and one where students arrive and leave performing at the highest levels statewide.

The two schools serve markedly different student populations. Aragon Avenue Elementary enrolls 216 students with 94% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high-poverty community. Third Street Elementary enrolls 691 students — more than three times as many — with 43% on free or reduced-price lunch. The student-teacher ratio at Aragon Avenue Elementary is 21.6:1 versus 22.3:1 at Third Street, a marginal difference that gives Aragon a slight edge in class size despite its smaller overall footprint. Aragon's near-perfect growth score alongside its high-poverty demographics signals an unusually effective instructional environment for its students.

Both schools are fully overlapping in grade structure, each covering KG–05 with no magnet or specialized pathway distinctions noted in the available data. The comparison therefore rests cleanly on outcomes: Third Street Elementary's ceiling-level academic score reflects a high-performing, more economically mixed student body, while Aragon Avenue Elementary's maximum growth score within a high-need population represents a different but equally meaningful kind of school excellence.