Kipp Sol Academy, Los Angeles CA

Original Research by School Decision on Kipp Sol Academy

KIPP Sol Academy is a charter middle school serving grades five through eight in East Los Angeles, with an enrollment drawn almost entirely from the surrounding Latino community. The school operates under relatively new oversight after a dramatic charter renewal battle in early 2025: the Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to deny renewal, citing failure to make measurable academic progress, but the Los Angeles County Board of Education voted narrowly in spring to authorize the charter anyway, transferring supervision from LAUSD to the County. The school now operates under an annual benchmark review process, a structural fact that shapes what happens next.

The academic picture is one a parent needs to understand clearly. On state testing in 2024-25, proficiency rates across math and English language arts sit in the range of roughly one in five to two in five students meeting grade-level standards, depending on subject and grade. Math proficiency is lower overall, with performance dipping particularly in sixth grade. English language arts shows somewhat stronger results, especially in the eighth grade. Science proficiency, tested only in fifth and eighth grades, falls in similar low range. Across all tested subjects and grades combined, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile compared to other schools in Los Angeles County. State testing data represents a single snapshot; the school reported gains on 2024-25 assessments after curriculum overhaul, though readers may want to watch whether those gains hold. Only one year of data is available for trend analysis.

The school faces an acute challenge on the academic side. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and nearly all enrolled students are Hispanic, a profile reflecting the neighborhood's makeup. The school is small to mid-sized for a middle school, with roughly even distribution across the four grade levels. Special education enrollment data and English learner enrollment data were not available, so parents would benefit from asking the school directly about those populations and the supports in place.

In response to the charter denial crisis, KIPP Sol is executing a significant instructional overhaul: expanded math and literacy coaching, full middle school curriculum revision, and comprehensive teacher retraining. That kind of intensive restructuring can yield improvement, but it also means the school is in a transition period. The benchmarks imposed by County oversight will require documented gains. A parent considering this school should understand both the institutional instability that prompted the charter fight and the school's declared commitment to the curriculum changes meant to address it. The school's operational future, at least through the next review cycle, depends on meeting those benchmarks.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 527%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 613%

School 13% · district not reported

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 724%

School 24% · district not reported

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

Grade 824%

School 24% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 531%

School 31% · district not reported

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

Grade 622%

School 22% · district not reported

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

Grade 733%

School 33% · district not reported

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

Grade 839%

School 39% · district not reported

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

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 821%

School 21% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 3 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income30%Higher-income32%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income19%Higher-income39%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income30%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income34%Higher-income60%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income25%Higher-income37%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income11%Higher-income28%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income30%8 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income21%Higher-income35%14 pp gap