Rosecrans Elementary, Compton CA

Original Research by School Decision on Rosecrans Elementary

Rosecrans Elementary sits on North Acacia Avenue in Compton, a dense urban city in southern Los Angeles County with deep roots in manufacturing, logistics, and culture. The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade, which is relatively uncommon and means families who enroll a kindergartner here can, in principle, stay through the end of middle school without switching campuses. Enrollment puts it in a moderate size range for a K-8 school. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a smaller share of Black students, and nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic conditions of the surrounding community. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs was not available in what we reviewed.

On academic performance, the picture is mixed and worth a candid look. California's CAASPP state assessments cover English language arts and math in grades three through eight, and science at grades five and eight. In ELA, proficiency rates across grades range from roughly the upper twenties at the lower elementary levels to the low-to-mid forties in the middle grades, with a modest uptick in seventh grade. Math follows a similar general shape in the lower grades but drops more sharply by sixth and eighth grade, with a notable spike in seventh grade that stands apart from the surrounding grade results. Science proficiency at both tested grade levels is quite low. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts across Los Angeles County, which is the comparison set available for this school. A parent who wants to understand what's driving these patterns, and what supports are in place grade by grade, would do well to ask the school directly. Trend data across multiple years was not available, so it is not possible to say whether results are improving, holding, or declining.

Because only one year of results is on hand, context matters. Rosecrans is part of Compton Unified, a district that has been visibly investing in its physical infrastructure and academic programs. Voters passed a substantial facilities bond in 2022, and a second bond for a new Dominguez High School was approved in June 2026. A new Compton High School campus opened for the 2025-26 school year, built around project-based learning. The district also publicly launched a new technology-focused high school, C-Tech, which uses a model allowing students to earn a high school diploma and a tuition-free associate degree simultaneously in fields like biotechnology and cybersecurity. These are genuinely meaningful pathways for students who would eventually move through Compton Unified's secondary system, and they represent a district trying to widen what is available to its graduates.

Compton itself is a city in active transition. The built environment is older, with mid-century single-family housing stock and a significant industrial corridor, but walkability near transit is reasonable, and the Metro A Line runs through the city with stops that bring much of the broader region within reach. The city is adding affordable and supportive housing at several sites, and a transit-oriented planning effort around the light-rail station is underway. Publicly reported data notes that median household income in Compton remains well below what newly built housing requires without financial strain, which shapes the community context families are navigating.

For a family considering Rosecrans specifically, the K-8 structure offers continuity, and the school serves a community with a strong shared cultural identity. The academic results, particularly in math and science, are an area where families may want to gather more information directly from the school about classroom supports, tutoring resources, and how individual student progress is tracked. Civil rights data for this school was not available in what we reviewed, so discipline patterns and access details could not be characterized here.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 58% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 46% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 33% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 44% · ▼ 25 pts below district

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

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 43% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 40% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 50% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 47% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 45% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 50% · ▼ 6 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 57% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 53% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 21% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 19% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

This schoolCompton Unified, 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.