Lafayette Elementary

Lafayette Elementary serves 474 students in kindergarten through fifth grade in San Francisco. It earns a composite score of 9.2 out of 10 and an Exceptional rating — anchored by a 9.7 academic score and a 9.1 growth score. The growth figure is particularly telling: it measures how much students advance year over year, independent of where they start, and Lafayette's 9.1 puts it well ahead of most California peers on that dimension alone.

The statewide numbers make the case clearly. Lafayette ranks 136th out of 9,533 public schools in California, and 9th out of 119 schools in San Francisco — a city with no shortage of competitive public schools. It outperforms 99% of California public schools.

For an elementary program, that standing is rare: only 113 of California's 5,817 elementary schools rank higher. At 20.6 students per teacher, class sizes run on the larger side for a school at this performance level. The strength of the academic and growth scores despite that ratio points to consistently strong classroom instruction.

Families searching for an elite elementary school in San Francisco will find Lafayette's combination of academic output and measurable student growth difficult to match.

The student-teacher ratio at Lafayette Elementary is 20.6:1, which is higher than the national average. This may mean larger class sizes, so parents should ask about classroom support, teaching assistants, and how the school differentiates instruction for students who need extra help.