Parker (Jean) Elementary vs Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary

Parker (Jean) Elementary and Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary sit 1.8 miles apart in San Francisco, yet their overall ratings diverge meaningfully: Parker earns a 9.5/10 versus Lilienthal's 9.0/10. The gap in state rank is even sharper — Parker ranks #30 of 9,533 schools in California while Lilienthal ranks #242 of the same pool — placing Parker in a rare tier of schools statewide. Both are high performers by any measure, but parents should understand the specific dimensions that separate them.

The academic and growth scores tell an interesting split story. Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary edges Parker on raw academic proficiency, scoring 9.7/10 versus Parker's 9.2/10. Parker, however, leads substantially on growth: a 9.7/10 growth score compared to Lilienthal's 8.8/10 — a 0.9-point delta that suggests Parker is accelerating student progress relative to starting points at a higher rate. Families weighing a school's ability to move students forward, regardless of where they enter, will find that distinction significant.

The demographic and structural differences between the two schools are substantial. Parker (Jean) Elementary enrolls 125 students against Lilienthal's 670, making Parker one of the smallest schools in the city. Parker's free and reduced lunch rate stands at 80%, compared to 21% at Lilienthal — a 59-point gap reflecting very different socioeconomic compositions. Parker's student-teacher ratio of 17.9:1 also provides meaningfully more individual attention per student than Lilienthal's 22.3:1, a difference of more than four students per teacher.

Grade span is the most structural distinction for families with older children: Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary serves grades KG–08, covering the full K–8 arc and eliminating a middle school transition, while Parker (Jean) Elementary tops out at grade 5. Families who value continuity through eighth grade — avoiding the disruption of a separate middle school application — will find Lilienthal's model compelling for that reason alone, independent of its academic ratings.