Farmdale Elementary vs Multnomah Street Elementary

Multnomah Street Elementary ranks #20 of 9,533 California schools, placing it among the top 0.2% statewide. Farmdale Elementary holds a strong position at #71 of 9,533 — top 1% statewide — but trails by 51 rank positions. The overall rating gap is narrow at 0.2 points (9.3 vs. 9.5 out of 10), yet that small delta masks a more meaningful divide when you look at what drives each school's score.

On academics, Multnomah Street Elementary scores 9.3/10 against Farmdale Elementary's 8.5/10 — a 0.8-point gap that reflects measurably stronger tested proficiency. Farmdale Elementary, however, flips the result on student growth, earning a perfect 10.0/10 versus Multnomah Street Elementary's 9.8/10. That distinction matters: Farmdale is getting more academic progress out of its students relative to where they started, while Multnomah leads on absolute achievement level. Both numbers are exceptional; which matters more depends on what a family is optimizing for.

Farmdale Elementary serves 317 students with 85% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Multnomah Street Elementary enrolls 336 students with 71% on free or reduced lunch — a 14-percentage-point gap that indicates a modestly higher-income population. Despite that demographic difference, both schools share an identical student-teacher ratio of 19.8:1, so classroom size offers no advantage either direction. Both serve grades KG–05 and sit just 1.0 mile apart in Los Angeles.

Because both schools cover the same grade band and are so geographically close, program and structural differences become the practical tiebreaker. Multnomah Street Elementary's higher academic score suggests stronger average tested outcomes, while Farmdale Elementary's perfect growth score signals an instructional environment that accelerates student progress regardless of entry point. Families weighing these two Los Angeles elementaries are not choosing between a good school and a great one — they are choosing between two high-performing schools with different performance profiles.