Da Vinci Connect, Hawthorne CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Da Vinci Connect

Da Vinci Connect is a TK-12 charter school in Hawthorne, a South Bay city in southwestern Los Angeles County, roughly fifteen miles from downtown Los Angeles. It operates on Isis Avenue and serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade under the Da Vinci Connect District, a small charter organization that publicly reports having expanded from a TK-8 program into a full K-12 pathway after launching a high school in 2020. That structural decision is the defining feature of the school for families considering it: a child who enrolls in kindergarten can follow a single continuous charter pathway all the way through a high school diploma and, if they choose, into college coursework, without ever changing school communities.

The high school model is the strongest selling point the data supports. Publicly reported information describes dual-enrollment college courses beginning in ninth grade, offered in partnership with Arizona State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and El Camino College, with all courses meeting California's A-G university admission requirements. Students have the option to work toward an associate's or bachelor's degree at no cost to their families, through a partnership with Rivet School. For a family weighing college readiness and college cost, this is a concrete structural advantage, not just a program name.

The academic performance picture from California's CAASPP state assessments is mixed. In English Language Arts, results are genuinely solid and strengthen as students move through the grades. Upper elementary and middle school students score well above the majority of tested grades statewide, with seventh and eighth graders reaching proficiency rates that many schools in Los Angeles County do not. In math the story is different. Across grades three through eight, fewer than half of students reached the proficient threshold in most tested years, with a particularly soft result in fourth grade. The school-wide combined proficiency index places Da Vinci Connect above the midpoint among districts in Los Angeles County, which is worth noting given how large and varied that county comparison set is, but the math gap between ELA and math performance is real and a parent would do well to ask the school directly about how math instruction is structured and supported. Science results from the CAST assessment fall between the ELA and math pictures, with stronger performance at eighth grade than at fifth. Trend data was only available for a single year, so it is not yet possible to say whether these results are improving, stable, or declining.

A substantial minority of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which means the school serves a genuinely economically mixed community. The student body is diverse by race and ethnicity: the largest groups are Hispanic and Black students, followed by white students and students of two or more races. The Asian-identified share is smaller. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available in the records we reviewed.

Da Vinci Connect TK-8 was publicly recognized as a California Distinguished School in 2023 for closing the achievement gap, and the Da Vinci network has been highlighted for bringing personal finance curriculum to students. Neither the graduation rate nor chronic absenteeism data was available at the school level for this profile.

Hawthorne itself is a working residential city, not a suburb in the conventional sense. Its neighborhoods are dense with ranch-style homes on compact lots, commercial activity concentrates along Hawthorne Boulevard and a few other corridors, and SpaceX's headquarters sits in the former Northrop aerospace complex, continuing a long industrial identity. Metro C Line light rail connects the city to the broader Los Angeles network. The most consequential near-term change to the physical community is a court-mandated push to redevelop the long-vacant former Hawthorne Plaza mall, a large site on Hawthorne Boulevard that closed decades ago. Whether that redevelopment reshapes the immediate neighborhood around the school is something families living nearby would want to track.

Housing near the school is priced well above the California statewide median, and rents have been climbing. Families renting rather than owning will find the local market competitive. For families already in Hawthorne who want a K-12 charter alternative with a genuine early-college option and strong ELA results, Da Vinci Connect offers a coherent pathway. The math performance across the lower and middle grades is a real consideration and worth exploring further with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 345%

School 45% · district not reported

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

Grade 432%

School 32% · district not reported

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

Grade 546%

School 46% · district not reported

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

Grade 649%

School 49% · district not reported

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

Grade 751%

School 51% · district not reported

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · district not reported

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 351%

School 51% · district not reported

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

Grade 454%

School 54% · district not reported

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 566%

School 66% · district not reported

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 662%

School 62% · district not reported

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 772%

School 72% · district not reported

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 869%

School 69% · district not reported

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Science

Grade 547%

School 47% · district not reported

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 854%

School 54% · district not reported

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 30 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-income38%Higher-income61%23 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income42%Higher-income61%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income55%Higher-income74%19 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income52%Higher-income69%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income60%Higher-income80%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income48%Higher-income84%36 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income54%20 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income21%Higher-income39%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income47%Higher-income44%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income28%Higher-income64%37 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income27%Higher-income67%41 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income36%Higher-income60%24 pp gap