City Terrace Elementary vs Third Street Elementary

Third Street Elementary holds a significant advantage in overall rating, scoring 9.6 out of 10 compared to City Terrace Elementary's 8.8 out of 10 — a gap that becomes starker in state context. Third Street Elementary ranks #8 of 9,533 schools in California, placing it among the state's top tier of elementary schools. City Terrace Elementary ranks #356 of 9,533, which is still a strong result in an enormous field, but the two schools are not in the same performance tier by any measure.

The academic separation between the two schools is concrete. Third Street Elementary scores a perfect 10.0 out of 10 in academics versus City Terrace Elementary's 9.0 out of 10 — a full point. The growth score gap is similar: Third Street Elementary posts a 9.9 compared to City Terrace Elementary's 8.4, a 1.5-point difference indicating that Third Street students are advancing at a markedly faster pace relative to their starting points. Together, these two measures suggest Third Street Elementary consistently outperforms across both absolute achievement and year-over-year student progress.

The two schools serve meaningfully different student populations. City Terrace Elementary enrolls 332 students with a free and reduced-price lunch rate of 75%, signaling a predominantly low-income community. Third Street Elementary enrolls 691 students — more than double — with a 43% free and reduced lunch rate. City Terrace Elementary's student-teacher ratio of 18.4:1 offers more instructional contact per student than Third Street Elementary's 22.3:1, meaning families at City Terrace gain smaller class sizes despite the school's lower overall rating.

Both schools serve grades KG through 05 and are separated by 9.4 miles within Los Angeles. The structural difference is that City Terrace Elementary operates at roughly half the enrollment of Third Street Elementary, which affects campus culture, resource breadth, and classroom density. Third Street Elementary's larger enrollment base typically supports wider program offerings, while City Terrace Elementary's smaller footprint and lower student-teacher ratio may translate to more individualized attention for each child.