New Heights Charter, Los Angeles CA

Original Research by School Decision on New Heights Charter

New Heights Charter is a small K-8 charter school located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South Los Angeles. The school operates on two campuses, with younger students in transitional kindergarten through second grade on one site and grades 3-8 on another about five minutes away, which means families with multiple children at the school will manage two separate locations.

Enrollment is small, roughly a few hundred students spread across all nine grade bands from kindergarten through eighth grade. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial Black student population and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, reflecting the economic profile of the South LA community the school serves.

On state assessments, New Heights shows uneven academic results across grade levels and subjects. In mathematics, proficiency rates are quite low in the elementary grades and drop further in the upper elementary years, reaching a notably weak level by fifth grade before improving somewhat in sixth and seventh grades, then declining again by eighth. English language arts performance follows a similar downward trend through the middle elementary years, with improvement emerging again in grades six and seven. Science results, where the school reports data for fifth and eighth grade only, are particularly low. The overall proficiency index is below the midpoint when compared to other schools in Los Angeles County. Students in grade seven stand out with stronger results in both subjects, suggesting the school may have had success with that cohort, though results in the surrounding grades tell a different story.

The school's charter was renewed by the Los Angeles Unified School District for the term running through 2026, which means the school's authorization is current and provides continuity through that date. This is relevant because it answers the basic question of whether the school will remain open.

The neighborhood surrounding the school is part of a diverse, densely populated Los Angeles with a long history of working-class and immigrant communities. South LA has substantial economic challenges, reflected in the high share of students receiving meal assistance at New Heights. Housing costs in the broader Los Angeles area remain elevated even as they have stabilized in recent months. The larger Los Angeles landscape is experiencing active growth and rezoning driven by housing demand, though this growth is unevenly distributed across neighborhoods.

New Heights represents an option for families seeking a smaller, neighborhood-based K-8 pathway in South LA, though parents considering enrollment should recognize that academic performance data shows the school is lagging on state measures of proficiency, particularly in elementary mathematics and science. A parent may want to look further into the school's approach to these subjects and the supports available to students who are not reaching proficiency benchmarks.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 343%

School 43% · district not reported

even with state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 440%

School 40% · district not reported

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 526%

School 26% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 630%

School 30% · district not reported

even with state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 763%

School 63% · district not reported

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 829%

School 29% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 335%

School 35% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 534%

School 34% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · district not reported

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 764%

School 64% · district not reported

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 851%

School 51% · district not reported

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Science

Grade 523%

School 23% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · district not reported

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

This schoolDistrict average, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.