Charles H. Kim Elementary vs Van Ness Avenue Elementary

Charles H. Kim Elementary outranks Van Ness Avenue Elementary by a wide margin in California's statewide standings, placing #9 of 9,533 schools compared to Van Ness Avenue Elementary's #294 of 9,533. That 285-spot gap reflects a meaningful 0.7-point overall rating difference — Kim scores 9.6/10 versus Van Ness's 8.9/10. Both are strong performers in absolute terms, but Kim's position in the top 0.1 percent of California elementary schools sets it apart from virtually every school in the state.

Academically, Charles H. Kim Elementary holds a 1.3-point edge, scoring 9.5/10 against Van Ness Avenue Elementary's 8.2/10. Growth scores are closer but still favor Kim: 9.8/10 versus Van Ness's 9.1/10. Both numbers signal that students at each school are advancing at above-average rates relative to their peers, but Kim's 9.8 growth score places it among the very best in the state for student progress, while Van Ness's 9.1 is still well above the California median.

The two schools serve demographically similar populations, which makes the academic gap more striking. Free and reduced-price lunch rates are nearly identical — 88% at Charles H. Kim Elementary versus 82% at Van Ness Avenue Elementary — meaning Kim's superior outcomes come despite a slightly higher concentration of economically disadvantaged students. Van Ness Avenue Elementary enrolls 198 students to Kim's 472, and its student-teacher ratio of 16.5:1 is tighter than Kim's 18.2:1, giving Van Ness a structural advantage in classroom attention that Kim's scores more than compensate for on outcomes.

Both schools serve grades KG through 05 and sit just 0.8 miles apart in Los Angeles, making them realistic alternatives for families in the same neighborhoods. No programmatic distinctions exist in the available data, so the choice comes down primarily to those documented performance differentials rather than specialized offerings at either campus.