N.e.w. Academy Canoga Park, Canoga Park CA

Original Research by School Decision on N.e.w. Academy Canoga Park

N.E.W. Academy Canoga Park is a small public charter school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in the western San Fernando Valley. The school's enrollment is roughly that of a standard elementary building for its grade range, with a preponderance of students from low-income households and nearly all from Hispanic backgrounds.

The school's state testing results show proficiency across math and English language arts that sits well below the midpoint for its county. In math, proficiency drops with each grade level, starting below a third of students in grade three and falling to around one in seven by grade five. English language arts proficiency is similarly low, tracking slightly behind math in the upper grades. Grade five science proficiency is in the low single digits. When measured against all schools tested in Los Angeles County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile of its peer group.

What stands behind these results is worth understanding. Roughly all but a handful of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school serves a community where poverty is widespread. The Canoga Park neighborhood itself is dense and mixed-use, with postwar strip commercial development along Sherman Way and aging residential stock dominated by apartment rentals, though newer mixed-use construction is rising throughout the Warner Center corridor to the east. Housing values in the area are moderate for Los Angeles County, and rents are modest relative to county benchmarks. The median household income across the region is solid, but the school's enrollment reflects families at the lower end of that distribution.

The school is a single-school charter district, meaning its continued operation hinges on charter renewal. A five-year renewal was publicly recommended by LAUSD staff and approved for the period beginning in the summer of 2026, securing the school's operation through mid-decade. For families considering enrollment, this renewal establishes institutional continuity and clarifies that the school will remain open.

For a parent deciding whether to enroll, several things matter. One is the proficiency picture: the school is not meeting state benchmarks across tested grades and subjects, and the gap is substantial. A parent may want to understand directly from the school what curriculum changes, support structures, or interventions are in place to address these results, and what trajectory the leadership expects over the coming years. Another is fit: the school enrolls almost entirely students from economic hardship and serves a community that is heavily immigrant and Hispanic. Beyond academics, a parent would benefit from visiting the campus to understand the school's culture, teaching practices, peer environment, and the specific support systems for English learners and students working below grade level, since the data fields for those populations were not available in the state records reviewed.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 334%

School 34% · district not reported

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 427%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 514%

School 14% · district not reported

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 334%

School 34% · district not reported

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

Grade 429%

School 29% · district not reported

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 522%

School 22% · district not reported

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Science

Grade 511%

School 11% · district not reported

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 16 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.