Willard (frances E.) Elementary, Rosemead CA

Original Research by School Decision on Willard (frances E.) Elementary

Frances E. Willard Elementary sits on North Willard Avenue in Rosemead, a dense suburban city in the western San Gabriel Valley best known regionally for its concentration of Asian restaurants, markets, and two unusually large corporate headquarters: Edison International and Panda Restaurant Group. The surrounding neighborhood is predominantly 1940s and 1950s single-family housing, and the school is part of the Garvey Elementary district, which serves kindergarten through sixth grade. Willard itself runs the same grade span, so there is no graduation rate to report, and the measures that matter here are California's state assessments.

The school's student body is closely split between Hispanic and Asian students, with nearly no other racial or ethnic groups represented. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this squarely in a high-need economic context. English learner data was not available in the records we reviewed, though given Rosemead's demographics, families would be reasonable to ask the school directly about language support programs.

On the 2024-25 CAASPP assessments, the picture across grades is uneven. In English language arts, performance climbs notably from third grade through sixth, with sixth graders posting the strongest results by a clear margin. Math tells a different story: third- and fifth-grade proficiency sits below half, fourth grade is closer to the middle, and sixth grade lands in a similar middle range. The overall proficiency index, when averaged across tested subjects and grades, places Willard just below the midpoint relative to districts in Los Angeles County. Science results from the fifth-grade CAST were weaker than either ELA or math. Trend data is limited to a single year, so there is no multi-year trajectory to read. Parents who want to understand how these results are moving, and what specific supports are in place for students performing below grade level, would benefit from asking the school directly.

Chronic absenteeism and discipline data were not available in the records we reviewed, which leaves a gap in the picture of day-to-day school climate. No special program offerings were found for this school.

The housing market around Willard reflects Rosemead's position inside the Los Angeles metro. Home values in the zip code are well above both the California state median and the national median, and have edged up slightly year over year. Rents have moved in the opposite direction, down modestly over the same period, though the rent-to-income ratio remains high enough that affordability is a real constraint for most households. The city is in a period of active planning-led densification along Garvey Avenue and the I-10 corridor, with mixed-use infill projects in various stages of proposal and approval, so the neighborhood context around the school may shift gradually over the next several years.

For a family choosing between this and other Garvey district elementaries, the most useful question is probably about the ELA trajectory: the sixth-grade reading results are a genuine strength, and understanding what drives that growth from third grade onward would tell you a lot about how the school is structured. The math picture is worth a closer conversation with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 334%

School 34% · District 58% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 43% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 53% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 46% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 52% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 54% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 61% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 34% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

This schoolGarvey 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

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income46%15 pp gap