Rockdale Visual & Performing Arts Magnet vs Third Street Elementary

Third Street Elementary holds a meaningful edge in overall standing, rated 9.6/10 against Rockdale Visual & Performing Arts Magnet's 9.1/10, but the state rank gap tells the sharper story: Third Street Elementary sits at #8 of 9,533 schools in California, placing it in the top one-tenth of a percent statewide, while Rockdale Visual & Performing Arts Magnet ranks #172 — elite in its own right, but clearly a tier below by this measure. Both schools are located in Los Angeles, 9.2 miles apart.

On academics, Third Street Elementary scores a perfect 10.0/10 versus Rockdale Visual & Performing Arts Magnet's 9.0/10 — a full point difference that reflects a concrete gap in measured proficiency. Growth scores are far closer: Third Street Elementary earns a 9.9/10 versus Rockdale's 9.7/10, meaning students at both schools are making strong year-over-year gains relative to peers, with only a 0.2-point delta separating them. A family prioritizing raw academic achievement will find Third Street Elementary's numbers more compelling; a family confident their child is already on track may weight the near-identical growth trajectories more heavily.

Third Street Elementary enrolls 691 students compared to Rockdale Visual & Performing Arts Magnet's 316 — more than double the campus population. Despite that size difference, student-teacher ratios are nearly identical: 22.3:1 at Third Street Elementary versus 22.6:1 at Rockdale, so class-size experience is comparable. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility stands at 47% at Rockdale Visual & Performing Arts Magnet and 43% at Third Street Elementary, a modest 4-point difference indicating similar socioeconomic profiles across both communities.

The clearest structural distinction between the two schools is program and grade span. Rockdale Visual & Performing Arts Magnet runs kindergarten through sixth grade and requires a magnet application, centering its identity on arts integration across all subjects. Third Street Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a traditional neighborhood school, with no application process. Families with a rising sixth-grader also gain an additional year before middle school transition by choosing Rockdale.