The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in English language arts. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on William Anderson Elementary
William Anderson Elementary sits on West 154th Street in Lawndale, a compact, densely settled South Bay city roughly 16 to 20 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles. The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public elementary school within the Lawndale Elementary School District.
The enrollment is substantial for a K-5 campus, with a heavily Hispanic student body making up roughly three-quarters of all students. Asian and Black students account for most of the remaining enrollment, alongside smaller groups. The economic picture is clear: the vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making this one of the higher-need campuses in the district by that measure. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs was not available in the records we reviewed, so a parent interested in those support structures should ask the school directly.
On California's CAASPP state assessments, the school's academic results are mixed and worth examining closely. In English language arts, third and fifth graders are reading proficient at rates below half, while fourth grade comes in somewhat stronger, clearing the halfway mark. Math proficiency follows a downward arc across the grades, with third grade performing best of the three tested years and fifth grade the weakest of all subjects reviewed. On the California Science Test at fifth grade, fewer than a third of students scored proficient. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index lands below the midpoint relative to districts in Los Angeles County, though it is worth remembering that comparison reflects a very large and varied county. Trend data covers only a single year at this point, so it is not yet possible to say whether scores are moving in a particular direction. A parent would reasonably want to ask the school about what instructional support is in place for students not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks.
One district-level program worth knowing about is the Dual Language Immersion offering, publicly reported as active at other campuses in the Lawndale Elementary School District, including Billy Mitchell Elementary and Mark Twain Elementary, with Will Rogers Middle School as a continuation pathway. That program is not described in William Anderson's own profile, and the data we reviewed does not confirm it operates at this campus. Families drawn to bilingual education should ask the district whether there is a pathway or transfer option available.
The Lawndale community itself has a particular texture. It is small in area, flat, and genuinely walkable for everyday errands, with commercial activity along Hawthorne Boulevard and Inglewood Avenue, a civic center cluster with a public library and community center, and nearby Alondra Park offering outdoor space adjacent to El Camino College. Transit options include a city-run shuttle and connections to regional bus and Metro rail lines. The city is largely built out, with growth managed through an updated general plan and focused along the commercial corridor rather than through new subdivisions. The housing market here runs well above state and national medians, with rents also carrying a significant affordability burden relative to typical household incomes. Renters in particular face a high rent-to-income ratio, and even a modest mortgage at current rates would require a substantial income commitment.
Program details specific to William Anderson, such as after-school enrichment, intervention tiers, or extracurricular offerings, were not included in the data we reviewed, leaving a real gap for families trying to understand the full school day. The school's own website would be the right place to close that gap before making a decision.
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