Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet vs Charles H. Kim Elementary

Charles H. Kim Elementary outranks Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet by a wide margin in California's statewide standings: Kim sits at #9 of 9,533 California elementary schools while Clifford Street ranks #357 — a 348-position gap that reflects a meaningful performance difference between two schools separated by only 3.1 miles in Los Angeles. The overall rating difference of 0.8 points (9.6 vs. 8.8 out of 10) understates the spread at the top of the distribution, where incremental gains are increasingly difficult to achieve.

Academically, Charles H. Kim Elementary scores 9.5 out of 10 versus Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet's 9.1, a 0.4-point difference that places both schools in elite territory — but Kim's growth score is where the gap widens most. Kim earns a 9.8 out of 10 on student growth compared to Clifford Street's 8.5, a 1.3-point delta indicating that Kim students are accelerating relative to academic peers at a substantially higher rate. For families weighing long-term trajectory alongside current achievement, that growth differential carries real weight.

The two schools diverge sharply on demographics and scale. Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet enrolls 131 students — a notably small campus — while Charles H. Kim Elementary serves 472. Student-teacher ratios are similar (18.7:1 at Clifford Street vs. 18.2:1 at Kim), so class size alone doesn't explain the performance gap. The free and reduced-price lunch rates tell different stories about the communities served: 53% at Clifford Street compared to 88% at Kim. Kim's top-decile rankings are achieved with a high-need population, making its performance particularly notable as a measure of instructional effectiveness.

Both schools serve kindergarten through fifth grade on the same grade-band footing. Clifford Street's explicit Math & Technology Magnet designation sets it apart programmatically — it operates as a district magnet with a defined STEM focus, which drives its smaller, application-eligible enrollment. Kim functions as a neighborhood school delivering exceptional outcomes at more than three times the enrollment, without a specialized programmatic filter.