The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in English language arts. The lowest is 27% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on York
York Elementary sits on a residential street in Hawthorne, a South Bay city about fifteen miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles. The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and is part of Hawthorne School District, a K-8 district whose campuses are spread across the city's neighborhoods. Students who complete fifth grade here go on to the district's middle grades before eventually transitioning to the Centinela Valley Union High School District for high school.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a meaningful share of Black students and smaller numbers of other groups. The overwhelming majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing York squarely among the higher-need campuses in its district. Data on English learner enrollment and special education rates were not available in what we reviewed.
On the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, the most recent results show a mixed picture that sharpens by grade. Third graders tested at roughly comparable rates in English language arts and math, each sitting near or above the midpoint for what one might expect at a school serving this population. By fourth and fifth grade, however, proficiency drops notably in both subjects, and fifth-grade math and science results are the weakest across the grade band. Placed against districts in Los Angeles County, York's overall proficiency index lands below the midpoint of that comparison set. That is a real gap worth understanding, and a parent would do well to ask the school directly about what academic supports are in place for the upper elementary grades where the decline is sharpest. Only one year of data was available, so trend direction cannot be assessed.
One concrete development worth knowing: York is the site of the Maxine Waters Health and Dignity Center, a school-based health clinic operated in partnership with Venice Family Clinic and funded through California's Community Schools Partnership Program. Publicly reported information from Hawthorne School District and Venice Family Clinic describes the center as offering medical care, mental health support, and insurance enrollment help to all Hawthorne School District children and teens regardless of insurance status. For families without reliable healthcare access, this is a substantive on-site resource, not a supplementary amenity. The broader community schools model the district is implementing also aims to address chronic absenteeism and school climate, though outcome data on those goals were not available here.
Hawthorne itself has the texture of a working residential city with an aerospace identity stretching back decades. SpaceX is headquartered there, along with other employers in the sector. Neighborhoods near the school are largely made up of modest ranch-style homes on compact lots, with commercial activity concentrated on major corridors. The Hawthorne Library, part of the LA County system, is nearby and was remodeled in 2022. The Metro C Line provides light rail access. The city's most prominent redevelopment story right now is the long-vacant Hawthorne Plaza mall site, where a court injunction obtained in late 2025 requires the owners to redevelop or demolish by mid-2026; the city views this as central to downtown's recovery.
Housing in the zip code is expensive relative to national norms, running well above the California statewide median. Estimated monthly mortgage costs for a typical home here represent a substantial stretch against the national median household income, and rent-to-income ratios suggest renting is less financially strained than buying, though rents have been rising. This is not an affordable entry market.
Graduation rate is not applicable here because York serves only elementary grades. AP, dual enrollment, and career pathway data do not apply for the same reason.
For families weighing York, the clearest strengths are the on-campus health center and the community schools support infrastructure, which are genuinely uncommon at the elementary level. The academic proficiency picture, particularly in the upper grades, is one a family should examine closely and follow up on with the school before drawing conclusions.
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