Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet, Los Angeles CA

Original Research by School Decision on Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet

Clifford Street Elementary Math & Technology Magnet is a small public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Los Angeles, with an enrollment drawn roughly evenly across its grade band. The school sits in a community where about half its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Latino, with substantial representation of white and multiracial students and smaller populations of Asian and Black students.

On state assessments in 2024-25, the school shows a pattern worth understanding clearly. In English language arts, proficiency is solid: third graders performed very well, fourth graders reached about three-quarters proficiency, and fifth graders landed around two-thirds. Math tells a different story. Third graders again performed very well, fourth graders clustered around four-fifths proficiency, but fifth grade math proficiency dropped sharply to roughly one-third. Science results at fifth grade, the only grade tested, sit around one-third proficiency. When averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to other schools in Los Angeles County, a meaningful strength.

The sharp decline in fifth grade math and science warrants a closer look. A parent considering this school or currently attending should ask whether this represents a curriculum transition point, a staffing change, a shift in assessment readiness, or something about how the upper elementary cohort is being supported in quantitative reasoning. The school's magnet designation around math and technology suggests that approach is central to its identity, so understanding what's happening in grade five becomes especially relevant.

The school is part of Los Angeles Unified, a sprawling urban district managing over 400 schools across the city. LAUSD recently adopted a campuswide cellphone ban affecting all students throughout the school day, a policy now in place at elementary schools as well. The district also passed Measure US, a major school facilities bond with a long-tail property tax implication for homeowners. For families renting or already in the community, these are the immediate district-level realities.

The Los Angeles housing market in this zip code reflects broader county dynamics: home values are substantial, and rents are rising. The area sits within a dense, mixed urban neighborhood typical of the central and east Los Angeles landscape, where schools serve highly localized communities rather than a single downtown or campus setting.

A parent evaluating Clifford Street would want to understand the math and science dip in fifth grade and whether the school's magnet focus is translating into sustained achievement across the curriculum. The strong ELA performance and overall proficiency ranking suggest the school has solid fundamentals, but the upper-grade patterns in quantitative subjects deserve direct conversation with school leadership.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 391%

School 91% · District 48% · ▲ 43 pts above district

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 43% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 535%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 395%

School 95% · District 44% · ▲ 52 pts above district

▲ 55 pts above state median · ▲ 53 pts above county median

Grade 474%

School 74% · District 45% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 47% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 29% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

This schoolLos Angeles 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.