Overland Avenue Elementary vs Third Street Elementary

Third Street Elementary ranks #8 out of 9,533 California schools, while Overland Avenue Elementary ranks #547 — a gap that places Third Street in the top 0.1% of the state compared to Overland's top 6%. On the overall 10-point rating scale, Third Street Elementary scores 9.6 versus Overland Avenue Elementary's 8.6, a one-point difference that, combined with the state rank spread, signals a meaningful performance gap between two otherwise similar Los Angeles elementary schools just 5.4 miles apart.

Academically, the two schools are close: Overland Avenue Elementary earns a 9.8 out of 10 against Third Street Elementary's perfect 10.0. The more telling difference is in growth. Third Street Elementary scores 9.9 on growth versus Overland Avenue Elementary's 8.3 — a 1.6-point gap indicating that students at Third Street are gaining ground at a substantially faster rate relative to their starting points. For parents focused on year-over-year learning progress rather than just absolute achievement, that growth spread is the sharpest differentiator between the two schools.

Third Street Elementary enrolls 691 students compared to Overland Avenue Elementary's 488, making it a larger campus by 203 students. Both schools serve kindergarten through fifth grade. The student-teacher ratio is comparable — 22.3:1 at Third Street versus 23.2:1 at Overland — so class size is not a meaningful distinction. The demographic difference is sharper: 43% of Third Street Elementary students qualify for free or reduced lunch compared to 12% at Overland Avenue Elementary. Third Street's high performance alongside a significantly higher proportion of economically disadvantaged students makes its scores especially notable.

Both schools cover the same grade span, KG–05, so neither offers an academic program extending beyond the other at the elementary level. The performance advantage at Third Street Elementary runs across both the academic and growth dimensions, while Overland Avenue Elementary's lower free/reduced-lunch rate reflects a more affluent student population that typically correlates with higher baseline scores — context worth weighing when interpreting the academic score near-tie.