Little Lake Elementary, Hemet CA

Original Research by School Decision on Little Lake Elementary

Little Lake Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Hemet, a working-class bedroom community in the San Jacinto Valley of western Riverside County. The school's enrollment is small for its grade band, drawn from a neighborhood that is heavily Hispanic and low-income. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is high, reflecting the economic profile of the community. Little Lake sits on Meridian Street in an area that is car-dependent and residential, part of a school district currently investing in facility upgrades through a voter-approved bond aimed at safety, classroom modernization, and repairs to aging infrastructure across its campuses.

The state testing results for Little Lake show low proficiency. In English language arts across grades three through five, proficiency rates cluster between the low and mid-range, with fifth grade performing better than grades three and four. Mathematics results are weaker, with proficiency rates in single digits for grades four and five, and somewhat higher but still low in grade three. Science proficiency in fifth grade is also low. These results place the school in the bottom quartile for proficiency among districts in Riverside County.

The performance pattern suggests that many students are not yet meeting grade-level standards, particularly in mathematics. English language arts shows relatively more students reaching proficiency, especially in the upper grade tested. The spread across grade levels hints that students may be arriving with gaps that widen in math through the middle elementary years.

Hemet itself is a growing area, with new residential development concentrating in master-planned neighborhoods near Highway 79. The community has a small historic downtown, but most daily life is shaped by car travel along wide commercial corridors and residential subdivisions. Housing is relatively affordable compared to the broader Southern California market and the state average. The largest employers are the school district, health care, and retail. Outdoor recreation centers on Diamond Valley Lake and a network of parks managed by the Valley-Wide Recreation and Parks District.

For a family considering Little Lake, the key question is whether the school's academic foundation meets their expectations and whether they see themselves as part of the peer community. The teaching staff and curriculum detail were not available in the provided data, so conversations with the school directly about reading and math support, English learner services, and specific classroom or grade-level approaches would help round out a clearer picture. The low proficiency rates are real and warrant direct inquiry about what academic intervention or support systems are in place, and how families can reinforce learning at home. A parent may want to look into these details further with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 316%

School 16% · District 29% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 410%

School 10% · District 17% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 15% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 323%

School 23% · District 33% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 29% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 36% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 16% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

This schoolHemet 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-income21%Higher-income42%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income24%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income12%Higher-income42%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income16%Higher-income16%0 pp gap