Glen Alta Elementary vs Hillside Elementary

Glen Alta Elementary holds a 9.4/10 overall rating against Hillside Elementary's 9.0/10 — a 0.4-point gap that understates the difference in state standing. Glen Alta Elementary ranks #41 of 9,533 California schools, putting it in the top 0.5% statewide. Hillside Elementary lands at #219 of 9,533, which is still an exceptional result, but Glen Alta's position represents an elite tier that fewer than 50 schools in the entire state reach.

The sharpest contrast between these two schools is academic proficiency. Glen Alta Elementary scores 8.6/10 on academics versus Hillside Elementary's 7.0/10 — a 1.6-point gap that reflects meaningfully different proficiency levels on state assessments. Growth tells the opposite story: Hillside Elementary edges Glen Alta 9.8/10 to 9.7/10, meaning both schools accelerate students at nearly identical and exceptional rates regardless of starting point. Families weighing raw achievement against student progress will find real differences here, though both schools perform well on growth by any California benchmark.

Demographically, the two schools are close neighbors — 0.8 miles apart — and serve similar populations. Glen Alta Elementary enrolls 116 students with 97% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch; Hillside Elementary serves 101 students with 91% qualifying. Both schools maintain nearly identical student-teacher ratios: 14.5:1 at Glen Alta Elementary and 14.4:1 at Hillside Elementary. These ratios are well below the California average, meaning small classes and more individual attention at both campuses regardless of which a family chooses.

The most structural difference between these schools is grade span. Glen Alta Elementary runs kindergarten through 8th grade, keeping students on one campus through middle school. Hillside Elementary serves kindergarten through 5th grade only, which means families will manage a school transition after fifth grade. For parents who value continuity — avoiding a middle school search and a mid-childhood transition — Glen Alta's K–8 structure is a concrete logistical advantage that Hillside Elementary simply cannot match.