Kipp Comienza Community Prep, Huntington Park CA

Original Research by School Decision on Kipp Comienza Community Prep

KIPP Comienza Community Prep is a charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in Huntington Park, a dense, working-class city in southeastern Los Angeles County with a strong Latino character and a walkable downtown anchored by Pacific Boulevard. The school occupies a newly constructed permanent facility, the Kim Frank Family Campus, that opened in 2022 after years in interim space, signaling a committed long-term presence in the community.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic, nearly all qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and enrollment is distributed fairly evenly across all grade levels, hovering around a typical class size for each grade. The school's academic profile shows uneven performance across subjects and grades, with particular pressure points worth understanding if you are considering this school.

In English language arts, results range widely. Third grade starts at the lower end, while eighth grade stands noticeably higher. Sixth and seventh graders post proficiency rates near the middle-to-upper range. The overall ELA average across all tested grades sits at roughly the midpoint of state performance. In mathematics, the picture is steeper: third and fourth graders meet proficiency at roughly similar rates, but fifth grade drops substantially, recovering somewhat by middle school. Sixth grade math remains weak, while seventh and eighth graders rebound to the level of upper elementary. The overall math average across all grades is well below ELA, and is below the midpoint when compared to other schools in Los Angeles County. Science testing, available only in fifth and eighth grade, shows a wide gap between grades, with fifth graders posting modest proficiency and eighth graders nearly at the overall ELA level.

These grade-level variations suggest the school faces significant challenges in the upper-elementary to lower-middle-school band, particularly in math, that then soften by eighth grade. A parent may want to look into this further with the school: what drives the sharp decline in fifth-grade math, and what changes occur by middle school that appear to lift performance. Trend data for prior years was unavailable, so whether these patterns reflect a consistent school dynamic or year-to-year variation is unclear.

As a charter school, KIPP Comienza sits within the larger KIPP SoCal network, which has faced enrollment losses and charter-renewal challenges across multiple campuses in recent years. Three KIPP schools closed in 2024, and another narrowly survived a denied charter renewal that was overturned on appeal in 2025. This network volatility is a relevant consideration for families weighing long-term enrollment, since charter renewal depends on performance metrics and enrollment thresholds.

Huntington Park itself is notably walkable, with a strong commercial spine on Pacific Boulevard and tree-lined residential neighborhoods. The area is anchored by retail and manufacturing, with nearby industrial Vernon and Commerce providing regional employment. Housing values in the zip code are stable, and the city is pursuing downtown infill and mixed-use development as part of its housing element and a Downtown Specific Plan.

The school serves a high-need population with very limited household economic resources, and the data shows academic gaps that appear school-specific rather than inevitable for the community. If you are drawn to the school's physical stability, its charter flexibility, or its community location, the uneven test results, especially in math and across the elementary-to-middle transition, merit direct conversation with school leadership about instructional approach, assessment practices, and plans to address grade-level variance.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 348%

School 48% · district not reported

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · district not reported

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · district not reported

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

Grade 626%

School 26% · district not reported

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

Grade 738%

School 38% · district not reported

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · district not reported

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

Grade 443%

School 43% · district not reported

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

Grade 545%

School 45% · district not reported

even with state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 649%

School 49% · district not reported

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

Grade 751%

School 51% · district not reported

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

Grade 862%

School 62% · district not reported

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · district not reported

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income28%Higher-income54%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income42%Higher-income54%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income67%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income47%Higher-income83%36 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income61%Higher-income69%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income46%Higher-income62%16 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income45%Higher-income85%40 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income23%Higher-income47%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income35%Higher-income67%32 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income49%Higher-income39%10 pp gap