Gates Street Elementary vs Charles H. Kim Elementary

Charles H. Kim Elementary holds an overall rating of 9.6 out of 10 against Gates Street Elementary's 8.9 out of 10 — a 0.7-point gap that carries significant weight in state context. Charles H. Kim Elementary ranks #9 of 9,533 California schools, placing it in the top 0.1 percent statewide. Gates Street Elementary ranks #284 of 9,533, which is still an elite position — top 3 percent in the state — but the distance between these two schools in California's ranking system is substantial.

Academically, Charles H. Kim Elementary scores 9.5 out of 10 versus Gates Street Elementary's 8.2 out of 10, a 1.3-point gap that reflects a meaningful difference in measured proficiency. Growth scores are closer: Charles H. Kim Elementary posts a 9.8 compared to Gates Street Elementary's 9.4, meaning both schools demonstrate strong year-over-year student progress, but Kim edges ahead there as well. Parents prioritizing current academic achievement levels will find a clearer advantage at Charles H. Kim Elementary, while both schools show similarly strong trajectories for student growth.

Both schools serve KG–05 and enroll comparable numbers of students — 461 at Gates Street Elementary and 472 at Charles H. Kim Elementary — so class size dynamics are similar at the school level. The student-teacher ratio tells a slightly different story: Charles H. Kim Elementary's 18.2:1 ratio is narrower than Gates Street Elementary's 20.0:1, translating to roughly two fewer students per teacher on average. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility is high at both campuses, with Gates Street Elementary at 93 percent and Charles H. Kim Elementary at 88 percent, indicating both schools serve predominantly lower-income communities despite their high performance marks.

The 5.8-mile distance between these two Los Angeles elementary schools means family geography will drive many decisions, since neither school feeds a dramatically different neighborhood demographic. Both campuses serve the same grade span — kindergarten through fifth grade — so programming structure is parallel. The practical differentiator for most families comes down to whether the gap in academic proficiency scores between Gates Street Elementary and Charles H. Kim Elementary justifies any additional commute.