Gidley Elementary, El Monte CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Gidley Elementary

Gidley Elementary sits on Lower Azusa Road in El Monte, a dense, working-class city in the San Gabriel Valley that blends residential streets with retail corridors, industrial land, and one of the busiest transit hubs in the western United States. The school is a regular public school in the El Monte City School District, serving kindergarten through eighth grade, which makes it one of the relatively few K-8 schools in its area. Its student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a meaningful share of Asian students as well. The vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing Gidley in the high-economic-need tier that is common across El Monte's schools.

State testing results from the most recent year are available across math, English language arts, and science for grades three through eight. The math picture is mixed in an interesting way: proficiency rates in the upper elementary grades, roughly fourth and fifth, sit solidly above the midpoint, and sixth grade is similar. Third grade is somewhat lower but still in the moderate range. The noticeable drop comes in seventh and eighth grade, where math proficiency falls well below the school's own earlier grades. That pattern is worth asking the school about directly, since it suggests something shifts in the transition into the upper middle school years. ELA tells a somewhat different story, with fourth and sixth grades performing well, while third, fifth, and eighth grades are considerably lower. Seventh grade ELA lands in the mid-range. Science proficiency, tested in fifth and eighth grades, is lower across both checkpoints. Taken across all tested subjects and grades, Gidley sits just above the midpoint among districts in Los Angeles County, which is a reasonable reference point given how large and varied that county comparison set is.

Trend data is limited to a single year, so no direction of travel can be established from what is available. A parent wanting to understand whether scores have been rising or falling would need to ask the school directly for prior-year results.

Program information was not available in the data, so specific course offerings, intervention programs, or enrichment activities were not described. There is no graduation rate to report, since Gidley does not serve high school grades. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available.

At the district level, two developments are directly relevant to families. Voters passed a school facilities bond in November 2024, publicly reported as covering modernized classrooms, expanded outdoor learning spaces, performing arts upgrades, structural repairs, and safety improvements across district elementary schools. The bond comes with a multi-year property tax obligation for homeowners in the district, so families buying into the area should factor that in. Separately, beginning with the current school year, El Monte City School District added six "Enrichment Fridays" to its calendar. On those days, teacher attendance is not required, student attendance is optional, and the district runs enrichment programming funded through California's Expanded Learning allocation. For families who rely on predictable school schedules or have limited flexibility around childcare, this is a concrete calendar change worth planning around.

El Monte's housing market reflects the broader Southern California reality: home values are far above the national midpoint, though roughly in line with the California state benchmark. Rents have been essentially flat year over year. The cost-of-housing picture means entry into the neighborhood carries a substantial financial commitment, and the mortgage-to-income ratio here is among the more stretched in the country. The city itself is actively building transit-oriented housing near its major station, including affordable and workforce units, which reflects a deliberate effort to expand supply in a constrained market.

El Monte as a place has a defined everyday texture: locally owned shops and restaurants along Main Street and Valley Boulevard, a Thursday farmers market, the LA County library branch on Tyler Avenue, roughly ten city parks ranging from small neighborhood greens to larger multi-acre spaces, and direct transit access through both the Metro J Line and Metrolink. Walkability is best near the downtown corridor; much of the city is still car-oriented. The largest local employers are the school districts themselves, along with the city government and major auto retail operations.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 353%

School 53% · District 45% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 39% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 37% · ▲ 26 pts above district

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

Grade 665%

School 65% · District 37% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 34% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 29% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 40% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 42% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 48% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 52% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 53% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 52% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 26% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 49% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

This schoolEl Monte City, 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 7Lower-income56%Higher-income65%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income45%Higher-income71%25 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income61%28 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income65%33 pp gap