Figueroa Street Elementary vs Third Street Elementary

Third Street Elementary ranks #8 of 9,533 California schools while Figueroa Street Elementary ranks #542 — a gap that reflects a 1.0-point difference in overall rating (9.6 vs. 8.6 out of 10). Both are strong performers by statewide standards, but Third Street Elementary sits at an exceptional level that fewer than 0.1% of California elementary schools reach, placing it among the state's most highly rated public schools.

On academics, Third Street Elementary scores 10.0/10 against Figueroa Street Elementary's 8.1/10 — a 1.9-point delta that signals a meaningful difference in measured proficiency. Growth scores are closer but still favor Third Street: 9.9/10 versus Figueroa Street's 9.0/10. Figueroa Street's growth score is notable given its demographic profile, indicating that students there are gaining ground at a strong pace relative to similar peers.

The two schools serve very different populations. Figueroa Street Elementary enrolls 404 students with 97% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a predominantly low-income community. Third Street Elementary enrolls 691 students with a 43% free/reduced lunch rate — a substantially more economically mixed student body. Student-teacher ratios are comparable: 21.3:1 at Figueroa Street versus 22.3:1 at Third Street, a difference unlikely to produce a meaningful classroom experience gap. Both schools serve grades KG–05 and sit 9.9 miles apart within Los Angeles.

Both schools cover the same grade span — kindergarten through fifth grade — so families with children in those years can compare them on equal footing. The divergence in academic score (8.1 vs. 10.0) likely reflects differences in incoming student preparedness driven by socioeconomic factors rather than instruction quality alone; Figueroa Street's 9.0 growth score suggests its teachers are delivering strong gains from wherever students start. Third Street Elementary's combination of top-decile academic results and near-perfect growth makes it a rare outlier even among high-performing schools, while Figueroa Street Elementary's performance relative to a 97% FRL population reflects a school achieving well above what demographics alone would predict.