Multnomah Street Elementary vs Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary

Multnomah Street Elementary and Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary sit 2.9 miles apart in Los Angeles and operate at strikingly similar scales, yet their state rankings reveal a meaningful gap at the top of California's performance ladder. Multnomah Street Elementary ranks #20 of 9,533 California schools, while Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary ranks #42 of 9,533 — both placing in the top 0.5% statewide. The overall rating difference is just 0.1 points (9.5 vs. 9.4 out of 10), so parents should look past the headline number and examine where each school pulls ahead.

On academics, Multnomah Street Elementary scores 9.3/10 versus Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary's 9.0/10 — a 0.3-point edge that reflects stronger current proficiency levels. Growth tells a different story: Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary leads 9.9/10 to Multnomah Street Elementary's 9.8/10, meaning students at Hamasaki are advancing at a fractionally faster rate relative to similar peers. In practical terms, both schools are performing at an elite level, but Multnomah Street Elementary converts its academic baseline into higher measured proficiency, while Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary demonstrates slightly superior year-over-year student progress.

The most striking difference between the two schools is economic diversity. Multnomah Street Elementary serves 71% of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch; Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary serves 94%. That 23-percentage-point gap indicates Hamasaki draws from a significantly more economically disadvantaged population, which makes its #42 statewide ranking and 9.9 growth score particularly notable — the school is achieving exceptional outcomes with a high-need student body. Enrollment is nearly identical (336 vs. 340 students), and student-teacher ratios differ by just 0.2 (19.8:1 at Multnomah Street Elementary vs. 20.0:1 at Morris K. Hamasaki Elementary), so class size offers no practical distinction. Both schools serve grades KG–05.