Third Street Elementary vs Wonderland Avenue Elementary

Third Street Elementary and Wonderland Avenue Elementary are both Los Angeles elementary schools serving kindergarten through fifth grade, but their overall ratings diverge by a full point — Third Street Elementary earns a 9.6/10 against Wonderland Avenue Elementary's 8.6/10. That gap becomes sharper when viewed against California's full landscape of 9,533 schools: Third Street Elementary ranks #8 statewide, placing it among a tiny handful of top-performing elementaries in the entire state, while Wonderland Avenue Elementary ranks #555, which is still comfortably in the top 6 percent but represents a meaningful distance from the very elite tier.

Both schools post identical academic scores of 10.0/10, meaning neither holds an edge in measured proficiency. The separation comes from growth: Third Street Elementary scores a 9.9/10 on growth versus Wonderland Avenue Elementary's 8.4/10 — a 1.5-point delta that reflects how much additional learning progress students make year over year beyond what demographics would predict. That growth advantage is likely a key driver of Third Street Elementary's dramatically higher state rank despite equal academic proficiency scores.

The two schools differ notably in size and economic composition. Third Street Elementary enrolls 691 students compared to Wonderland Avenue Elementary's 442, and serves a higher share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch — 43% at Third Street Elementary versus 27% at Wonderland Avenue Elementary. That means Third Street Elementary is achieving its near-perfect scores and #8 statewide rank while educating a more economically diverse student body, which makes the growth result especially significant. Student-teacher ratios favor Third Street Elementary slightly at 22.3:1 versus 24.6:1 at Wonderland Avenue Elementary, a difference of roughly two additional students per classroom.

Both schools are pure elementary programs running kindergarten through fifth grade, and at just 4.0 miles apart they draw from overlapping but distinct Los Angeles neighborhoods. Families weighing the two will find no academic proficiency gap to speak of, but will find meaningful differences in growth trajectory, economic diversity, and where each school sits in the California rankings hierarchy.