Ascot Avenue Elementary vs Third Street Elementary

Third Street Elementary holds a 9.6/10 overall rating against Ascot Avenue Elementary's 9.0/10 — a 0.6-point gap that reflects a much larger positional difference: Third Street Elementary ranks #8 of 9,533 California elementary schools, while Ascot Avenue Elementary ranks #214 of 9,533. Both placements are elite by any measure, but Third Street's position puts it in a category shared by fewer than a dozen schools statewide.

The academic score tells the sharpest story. Third Street Elementary scores a perfect 10.0/10 in academics versus Ascot Avenue Elementary's 7.9/10 — a 2.1-point delta that drives most of the overall rating gap. Growth scores, by contrast, are nearly identical: Ascot Avenue Elementary 9.8/10, Third Street Elementary 9.9/10. That near-parity on growth means Ascot Avenue Elementary is accelerating students at nearly the same rate as one of the top-ranked schools in the state — its students simply enter lower on the proficiency scale.

The demographic profile explains why. Ascot Avenue Elementary serves a 96% free- and reduced-lunch population across 651 students, compared to Third Street Elementary's 43% FRL rate across 691 students. Ascot Avenue Elementary also carries a slightly lower student-teacher ratio — 20.3:1 versus Third Street Elementary's 22.3:1 — giving it a marginal staffing edge. These numbers reflect two schools doing strong work with meaningfully different incoming resources and student needs.

Both schools cover grades KG–05 and sit 6.8 miles apart within Los Angeles. The grade span and city context are identical; the divergence is entirely in academic baseline and family income mix, not in structure or program level. A parent choosing between them is really choosing between two high-performing schools with different community compositions rather than different grade offerings or instructional models.