Holmes Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles CA

Original Research by School Decision on Holmes Avenue Elementary

Holmes Avenue Elementary serves children from kindergarten through sixth grade in Los Angeles, in the 90058 zip code on the city's south side. The school enrolls a small cohort of students in this grade band, with the population split relatively evenly across the seven grades served.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with roughly equal representation between the two groups. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a community with very limited household income. The school's composition reflects the neighborhood it sits in: a low-income, predominantly communities of color area of South Los Angeles.

On state assessments in math and English language arts administered in the spring of 2025, Holmes Avenue's results are weak across all tested grades. In math, proficiency runs from single digits in fourth and fifth grade up to one in five students in third and sixth grade. English language arts performs somewhat better, with third grade at roughly one in three students meeting proficiency and sixth grade at one in five, but fourth and fifth grades again fall to single digits. In science, tested only in fifth grade, proficiency was similarly low. These results place the school in the bottom quartile among schools assessed across Los Angeles County, meaning performance here falls well below what other schools in the region are achieving.

The school is part of Los Angeles Unified, a very large district managing schools across the sprawling city. LAUSD recently implemented a district-wide cellphone ban affecting all students from kindergarten through high school, taking effect in February 2025. Families should know this is now the daily reality at Holmes Avenue. The district also adopted the Black Student Achievement Plan, funded to support culturally responsive curriculum and counseling staff at targeted schools; whether Holmes Avenue is among those receiving that extra staffing would require a direct conversation with the school.

For families considering this area or already living near it, the housing market shows homes valued at a modest premium to the national median, though substantially below California's state median, reflecting the reality that South Los Angeles remains more affordable than many other parts of the region. Affordability ratios indicate housing costs are a significant stretch for households at local median income levels. The neighborhood anchors into the broader city's polycentric form: Los Angeles operates an extensive Metro transit system with buses and rail, though walkability and transit access vary sharply by immediate location.

A parent may want to discuss directly with Holmes Avenue what supplemental support or intervention programs are in place to raise proficiency, what staffing or curriculum resources the school has access to, and how the school is working with families on the academic trajectory of students at these grade levels.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 48% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 47%

School 7% · District 43% · ▼ 36 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 36% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 35% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 44% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 421%

School 21% · District 45% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 47% · ▼ 40 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 46% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 29% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below 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.