Westlake Hills Elementary, Westlake Village CA

Original Research by School Decision on Westlake Hills Elementary

Westlake Hills Elementary is a school of about four hundred students in kindergarten through fifth grade, located in Westlake Village, a master-planned suburban community in western Los Angeles County that ranks among the wealthiest in the Greater Los Angeles area. The school sits within the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

The school's student body is predominantly white, with a meaningful Hispanic enrollment and smaller numbers of Asian, multiracial, and other students. About one in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, suggesting that while the school serves an affluent area, it includes families across a range of economic circumstances. State testing data was available only for the most recent school year, so trends over time cannot be assessed.

On the state's standardized math and English language arts assessments, the school's proficiency rates show stronger performance in English language arts, where a solid majority of third and fourth graders reached proficiency, and especially fifth grade. In math, proficiency is highest in third grade and declines at higher grade levels, with fifth-grade math proficiency notably weaker. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits near the midpoint. Among the districts in Ventura County that report testing data, this school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile, a strength relative to its peers countywide.

The setting is characteristic of the area: a planned suburban environment with connected greenbelts, mature trees, and schools functioning as separate campus locations within individual neighborhoods rather than dense downtown anchors. Parks and civic amenities cluster around a town center, and the community emphasizes structured neighborhood associations. Housing values in the Westlake Village area are substantially above state and national medians; rental costs are high relative to median income, placing housing affordability under pressure for families seeking to move to the area.

The district has implemented a one-semester ethnic studies course that becomes a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2030, a curriculum change that affects all students districtwide. Parents should know that ongoing litigation over health and sex education materials remains active, with a lawsuit filed in 2022 by parents alleging age-inappropriate content and inadequate parental notification; the case has proceeded through appellate proceedings. This is a sustained contested issue within the district that families evaluating a move into the area would likely want to discuss directly with school and district administrators.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 70% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 66% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 371%

School 71% · District 64% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 70% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 578%

School 78% · District 72% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 57% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

This schoolConejo Valley 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income80%30 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income41%Higher-income78%37 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income57%Higher-income84%27 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income64%Higher-income81%16 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income72%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income43%Higher-income64%22 pp gap