Crescent Heights Boulevard Elementary, Los Angeles CA

Original Research by School Decision on Crescent Heights Boulevard Elementary

Crescent Heights Boulevard Elementary is an alternative elementary school in Los Angeles serving kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits on South Crescent Heights in an area where housing values are high and family economics stretch tight, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is primarily Hispanic and Black, with smaller populations of Asian and white students.

The school's test results show across-the-board academic strain. In mathematics, students in third grade perform somewhat better than those in higher grades, with proficiency declining noticeably in fourth and fifth grade. English language arts proficiency is similarly low, particularly in fourth grade where it dips significantly, though fifth-grade performance in ELA rebounds somewhat. Fifth-grade science proficiency is also below the level one would expect for that grade. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile when compared to other schools in Los Angeles County. The test results represent a single year, so trend data is not yet available.

An alternative school designation typically indicates a school serving students with specific needs or learning approaches that differ from traditional instruction. Without program information in the available data, a parent may want to ask the school directly what "alternative" means in this setting, what pedagogical approach it follows, and whether it is designed for students with learning differences, behavioral needs, or other specialized requirements.

The school's enrollment is small, under two hundred students, distributed across six grades. This size creates an intimate peer environment but may also limit the breadth of offerings, clubs, or grade-level cohorts that larger schools provide. The overwhelming economic need in the student body—over nine in ten students economically disadvantaged—signals a community facing housing cost pressures despite the neighborhood's high property values, a dynamic common in Los Angeles where rental and purchase prices far exceed typical household income.

Data on special education identification and English learner status was not available. The district's recent cellphone ban and its Black Student Achievement Plan, which funds culturally responsive curriculum and additional counseling, apply districtwide and would affect this school alongside all other LAUSD campuses. Families considering this school should inquire about what makes it alternative, what specific student populations it serves, and what instructional supports are in place to address the substantial academic gaps evident in the test data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 48% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 43% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 36% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 44% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 414%

School 14% · District 45% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 47% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Science

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 29% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 3 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.