Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary vs Charles H. Kim Elementary

Charles H. Kim Elementary ranks #9 of 9,533 schools in California, placing it among the state's top 0.1 percent of schools. Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary is no slouch at #42 statewide — a top-half-percent finish — but the 33-position gap between them represents a meaningful difference in overall performance. Kim edges Hamasaki by a narrow 0.2 points in overall rating (9.6 vs. 9.4), a small headline number that masks more significant separation in specific categories below.

On the academic side, Charles H. Kim Elementary scores 9.5 out of 10 versus Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary's 9.0 — a half-point gap that reflects stronger measured proficiency at Kim. The picture reverses on growth: Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary scores 9.9 on growth versus Kim's 9.8, indicating that Hamasaki students make marginally faster year-over-year academic gains relative to their peers. Families who prioritize current achievement ceilings will favor Kim; those who weight the school's ability to accelerate learning from wherever a child starts will find Hamasaki's growth score the more compelling number.

Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary enrolls 340 students against Charles H. Kim Elementary's 472, giving Hamasaki a smaller campus feel. Hamasaki's student-teacher ratio is 20.0:1 compared to Kim's 18.2:1, meaning Kim students get slightly more teacher access per head despite the larger enrollment. Both schools serve high concentrations of economically disadvantaged students — Hamasaki at 94% free or reduced-price lunch eligibility and Kim at 88% — signaling that both deliver exceptional outcomes for predominantly low-income communities, which makes their statewide rankings all the more striking.

Both Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary and Charles H. Kim Elementary cover grades KG through 5 and sit 8.8 miles apart within Los Angeles, making geography the most common tiebreaker for families who find both schools acceptable on the numbers. Neither school offers a grade-range advantage over the other, so the decision comes down to the academic-versus-growth trade-off, class size preferences, and which campus is more accessible from home.