Grattan Elementary vs Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary

Grattan Elementary and Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary sit 2.8 miles apart in San Francisco and land within a fraction of each other at the top of California's ratings — Grattan Elementary at 9.2/10 and Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary at 9.1/10, a gap of just 0.1 points. In state rank context, though, both schools are genuinely elite: Grattan Elementary ranks #179 of 9,533 California schools while Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary ranks #253 of 9,533 — both comfortably inside the top 3 percent statewide.

The academic and growth scores tell an interesting cross-story. Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary outpaces Grattan Elementary in academic proficiency, scoring 9.7/10 versus Grattan's 8.7/10 — a full point delta that represents a meaningful gap in tested achievement. Grattan Elementary, however, leads on growth, scoring 9.5/10 compared to Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary's 8.8/10. That 0.7-point growth advantage means students at Grattan Elementary are making faster academic progress relative to their starting points, even if Lilienthal's overall proficiency ceiling is higher at the moment of measurement.

The two schools differ considerably in scale and classroom density. Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary enrolls 670 students — 75 percent more than Grattan Elementary's 384 — and its student-teacher ratio of 22.3:1 runs noticeably higher than Grattan Elementary's 20.2:1. Grattan's smaller ratio translates to roughly two fewer students per teacher in each classroom. On free and reduced lunch eligibility, Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary serves 21 percent of students qualifying versus Grattan Elementary's 15 percent, indicating a modestly broader economic range in its enrollment.

The most structurally significant distinction for families is grade span. Grattan Elementary runs kindergarten through fifth grade, requiring a middle school transition after fifth grade. Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary serves kindergarten through eighth grade, keeping students in one building through middle school. That continuity — stable peer groups, familiar teachers, no application process mid-elementary years — is a concrete logistical and social difference that the rating gap alone doesn't capture.