Original Research by School Decision on California Academy of Mathematics and Science
California Academy of Mathematics and Science is a high school in Carson serving grades nine through twelve. It operates as a public school within Long Beach Unified and draws its enrollment from a mid-sized industrial-residential Los Angeles County city that is actively redeveloping former industrial and landfill sites into housing and mixed-use districts.
The school's testing profile shows strong across-the-board performance. In the most recent state testing window for which data is available, proficiency was very high in English language arts and mathematics, with notably solid performance in science as well. Only a single-year measurement is currently available, so long-term trend data is not present; a parent may want to ask the school directly about performance trajectories over multiple years to understand whether these results represent sustained strength or a recent uptick.
The student body is about half Asian, with a substantial Hispanic enrollment and smaller populations of Black, multiracial, and white students. A meaningful share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating economic diversity within the school. Data on the percentage of English learners and students receiving special education services was not available.
The school enrolls roughly a mid-sized group of students evenly distributed across the four high school grades. This creates a stable, comprehensive secondary environment rather than a small or highly specialized one.
Long Beach Unified, the parent district, has undergone sustained enrollment decline over the past two decades as the community's demographics have shifted. In November 2024, the board voted to close Hudson Elementary and merge its attendance boundary, signaling that further consolidations may follow. This context is worth tracking, as it could eventually affect which schools remain available to families in specific neighborhoods. On the facilities side, voters in 2022 approved a major bond measure that will fund modernization and safety upgrades to aging campuses through the mid-2030s, adding a long-term property tax obligation for homeowners in the district.
The district is also implementing California's state-mandated ethnic studies requirement, having adopted new instructional materials in 2022. High school students now access an 11th-grade blended Ethnic Studies/US History course and standalone ethnic studies electives, plus dual-enrollment options with California State University Long Beach that earn both high school and college credit. This reshapes the core graduation pathway and broadens students' access to college-level coursework while still in high school.
Carson itself offers a mixed environment. It is a largely car-dependent suburban landscape shaped by major freeways, though the downtown Carson Street corridor has sidewalks and the city is investing in pedestrian and bike infrastructure. The community is anchored by an extensive parks system, a municipal transit network connecting to regional services, and major employers in refining, logistics, manufacturing, and education, particularly California State University, Dominguez Hills. The city is actively zoning and developing residential and mixed-use projects, particularly converting older industrial and landfill land, so the immediate neighborhood around the school may see visible change over the coming years.
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