Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet vs Fifty-Fourth Street Elementary

Fifty-Fourth Street Elementary ranks #18 of 9,533 California schools, placing it in the top 0.2% statewide. Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet sits at #357 — still top 4% — but the 339-rank gap is substantial. Fifty-Fourth Street's overall rating of 9.5/10 edges Clifford Street's 8.8/10 by 0.7 points, a difference driven almost entirely by growth performance rather than raw academic output.

On academics, Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet actually leads with a 9.1/10 academic score versus Fifty-Fourth Street Elementary's 8.7/10 — a 0.4-point advantage. The picture reverses sharply on growth: Fifty-Fourth Street posts a perfect 10.0/10 growth score against Clifford Street's 8.5/10, a 1.5-point gap. That growth premium means students at Fifty-Fourth Street are gaining ground faster relative to their starting points, regardless of where they began.

The two schools serve meaningfully different populations. Fifty-Fourth Street Elementary enrolls 232 students — 77% more than Clifford Street's 131 — and carries a 94% free and reduced-price lunch rate versus 53% at Clifford Street. Despite serving a higher-poverty population, Fifty-Fourth Street maintains a slightly lower student-teacher ratio: 17.8:1 compared to Clifford Street's 18.7:1. Fifty-Fourth Street's combination of high poverty concentration and top-decile growth scores signals unusually effective instruction for its demographic.

Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet serves grades KG–05 with a specialized math and technology magnet program — a structured, theme-driven curriculum that families must actively apply for. Fifty-Fourth Street Elementary runs KG–06, adding a sixth-grade year that keeps students in the same building one year longer than Clifford Street's program allows. The 8.3 miles separating the two schools makes them a deliberate cross-town choice rather than a neighborhood comparison.