Castelar Street Elementary vs Third Street Elementary

Third Street Elementary ranks #8 of 9,533 California schools, placing it among the top 0.1 percent statewide. Castelar Street Elementary sits at #354 of 9,533 — still a strong top-4 percent finish, but 346 positions behind. The overall rating gap is 0.8 points, with Third Street Elementary scoring 9.6 versus Castelar Street Elementary's 8.8 out of 10. For parents who lead with state rank as their primary filter, that gulf is decisive.

The academic distance between these two schools is substantial. Third Street Elementary holds a perfect 10.0 academic score against Castelar Street Elementary's 8.7 — a 1.3-point gap on a 10-point scale. Growth scores are closer but still favor Third Street: 9.9 versus 9.0 for Castelar Street Elementary. Third Street's near-perfect scores across both dimensions signal that high-achieving students are not just entering strong but continuing to advance at an exceptional rate.

The two schools serve meaningfully different populations. Castelar Street Elementary enrolls 611 students with 85 percent qualifying for free or reduced lunch, compared to Third Street Elementary's 691 students at 43 percent FRL — a 42-percentage-point gap that reflects very different surrounding community income levels. Castelar Street Elementary offers a slightly smaller class environment, with a student-teacher ratio of 20.4:1 versus Third Street Elementary's 22.3:1, giving Castelar a modest edge in individual attention per student.

Grade structure is the most practical differentiator for some families. Castelar Street Elementary serves grades KG through 8, covering the full elementary and middle school span in one building and eliminating a school transition during a child's most formative years. Third Street Elementary is a KG–5 program, meaning families will need to find a separate middle school placement after fifth grade. Five and a half miles separate these two LAUSD schools, so proximity alone rarely decides the choice.