The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in Math. The lowest is 53% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Longley Way Elementary
Longley Way Elementary sits in a residential pocket of Arcadia, a San Gabriel Valley suburb roughly thirteen miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. The city grew up as a well-to-do neighbor of Pasadena, expanded rapidly in the postwar decades as chicken ranches gave way to subdivisions, and today is predominantly single-family residential with commercial corridors along Huntington Drive and Baldwin Avenue that reflect the city's large Asian population. Arcadia is not a walkable city in the uniform sense; the most pedestrian-friendly stretches concentrate near downtown and around the Metro A Line station, while most of the residential neighborhoods, including the area around Longley Way, run at a lower-density, car-oriented pace.
The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and draws a student body that is predominantly Asian, with Hispanic students making up a meaningful secondary share and smaller numbers of white and multiracial students. A moderate share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a solidly middle-range economic mix rather than at either extreme. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in the material we reviewed, so parents seeking detail on those support services would be worth asking the school directly.
On the 2024-25 California state assessments, Longley Way posted results that land clearly in the upper range relative to districts across Los Angeles County. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile when measured against the county's school districts, which is a genuinely strong position in a county with more than four hundred districts. In math, the picture is solid across third, fourth, and fifth grades, with fourth grade showing the highest rates. In English language arts, third grade sits somewhat lower than the other tested grades, while fourth and fifth grade results are more comparable to the math figures. The fifth-grade science assessment, the only grade where California tests science at this level, shows results that are respectable but trail the ELA and math numbers by a visible margin. Parents should be aware that only a single year of data is available here, so trend information cannot yet be drawn; whether these results reflect a stable pattern or a single-year snapshot is something worth exploring with the school.
No graduation rate applies to an elementary school, and that metric is not computed here for that reason.
Housing in the zip code surrounding the school is among the most expensive in California, running well above the statewide median and many multiples above the national figure. Rents have also moved upward in the past year. The monthly carrying cost of a home at current prices and mortgage rates is substantial by any measure, and the rent-to-income ratio in the area points to meaningful affordability pressure. Arcadia is a high-cost entry point. Families weighing a move here should factor in that Arcadia voters passed a school facilities bond in late 2024, which will be reflected in property-tax bills for years to come. The upside is that the bond funds a broad plan to repair and modernize campuses, many of which date to the 1950s, addressing safety, technology, drinking water, and classroom conditions across the district.
Arcadia Unified is the parent district. The district's publicly reported Facilities Master Plan, developed in the 2023-24 school year, identified substantial deferred maintenance needs, and the approved bond is the mechanism to address them over time. Longley Way itself is one of the campuses that would benefit from that investment, though the sequencing and scope of individual school projects is something families would want to verify with the district.
Program offerings specific to Longley Way were not available in the data we reviewed, so we left that out rather than speculate. The school's website would be the right place to look for enrichment, arts, and after-school programming details.
For a family prioritizing strong elementary test performance and a community with a pronounced Asian cultural presence and a dense array of nearby civic amenities, from the Arboretum to Arcadia County Park to the regional shopping and dining corridors, Longley Way and its surrounding neighborhood offer a coherent picture. The housing cost is the most significant practical barrier, and it is a real one.
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