Los Coyotes Elementary, La Palma CA

Original Research by School Decision on Los Coyotes Elementary

Los Coyotes Elementary serves kindergarten through sixth grade in La Palma, a small, stable residential city in northwest Orange County that has remained built out and largely unchanged for decades. The school enrolls a modest number of students and sits in a community of single-family homes, small retail corridors, and a civic campus centered on Central Park and City Hall rather than a traditional downtown. The area's major employers span healthcare, manufacturing, and professional services, with La Palma Intercommunity Hospital and Centerpointe Business Park anchoring the local economy.

The school's academic performance is notably strong. In English language arts and mathematics combined, proficiency rates across tested grades sit well above the median for districts in Orange County, placing Los Coyotes in the top quartile among county schools for overall proficiency. In third grade math, proficiency runs very high, and sixth grade English language arts also shows strong results. Fourth and fifth grade math proficiency is somewhat lower than in adjacent grades, with fifth grade math showing a noticeably softer result than the school's performance elsewhere; a parent may want to ask the school what instructional supports are in place for upper elementary math. Science proficiency in fifth grade, the only grade tested in that subject at the school, sits in the mid-range. State testing data for the most recent school year are the only results available, so no trend information is on hand.

The student body is predominantly Asian, reflecting patterns common to the broader Orange County region. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need. The school does not report enrollment counts for students receiving special education or English learner services; such data were not available in the public records reviewed.

Housing in La Palma is solidly expensive for the region and country, with home values and monthly rents both well above national benchmarks. The median household income locally is above national norms, though the cost of housing relative to income is high, and monthly mortgage payments substantially exceed monthly rent. Families considering this school should expect to live in a community where housing costs are a significant household budget item. The neighborhood itself is walkable for errands and nearby schools, and bus transit serves the city through OCTA routes, though there is no local rail station.

Los Coyotes is part of Centralia Elementary School District, which spans multiple cities and recently launched a Spanish-English dual language immersion program at Centralia Elementary in Anaheim. The district has also completed a series of classroom modernization projects funded by voter-approved bonds and expanded free transitional kindergarten as part of California's universal pre-kindergarten rollout. These district-level initiatives do not directly affect Los Coyotes, which operates as a standalone elementary school, but they reflect the district's investment in early childhood and facilities.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 391%

School 91% · District 59% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 486%

School 86% · District 57% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 49 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 54% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 689%

School 89% · District 53% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 59 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 387%

School 87% · District 54% · ▲ 33 pts above district

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 483%

School 83% · District 56% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 583%

School 83% · District 63% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 690%

School 90% · District 59% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 46 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Science

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 49% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

This schoolCentralia Elementary, 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-income100%Higher-income85%15 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income92%Higher-income90%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income92%Higher-income91%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income92%Higher-income88%4 pp gap