The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in English language arts. The lowest is 13% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Napa Street Elementary
Napa Street Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Northridge, a mixed residential neighborhood in the northwestern San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. It sits in a community anchored by California State University, Northridge, with larger lots and lower density than much of greater LA, giving the area a suburban character alongside pockets of student housing and newer mixed-use development along commercial corridors.
The school enrolls a student population that is overwhelmingly economically disadvantaged. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is roughly evenly distributed across the grade span, with slightly more students in kindergarten and fifth grade. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller numbers of Asian, white, and other students. Specific counts for students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the data.
Academic performance at Napa Street Elementary is considerably below proficiency in both English language arts and mathematics. Across the school, just about one-third of students meet proficiency standards in ELA, and about the same in math. Performance weakens markedly in the upper elementary grades. In third grade, fewer than half of students meet math proficiency; by fourth grade, that share drops to roughly two in five, and by fifth grade, to around one in six. Similar declines appear in ELA, where third-grade proficiency sits below half but fifth-grade proficiency falls to around three in ten. Science proficiency in fifth grade is very low, with only a small fraction of students meeting standards. These results position the school in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency when compared with districts across Los Angeles County. Only one year of testing data is available, so trend information cannot be assessed.
The broader context matters for understanding these results. Northridge's housing market and the wider San Fernando Valley have seen substantial recent development, with mixed-use and multifamily projects along the Reseda Boulevard corridor near CSUN. The area is building, but housing costs remain elevated relative to income across Los Angeles County. Families moving to or staying in Northridge should also know that LAUSD has approved a major facilities bond (Measure US) that will raise property taxes over a long repayment period to fund school building repairs and upgrades. The district has also implemented a district-wide cellphone ban during the entire school day, a daily policy change affecting student communication and school culture.
Napa Street serves a student population experiencing substantial economic hardship, and the school's proficiency results reflect the academic challenges its students face. Parents considering this school should discuss directly with the school what reading and math supports are in place across the grade span, especially for students who are not yet proficient, and what pathways exist to accelerate learning in the middle elementary grades where performance gaps appear to widen. The school's location in Northridge offers access to the community's parks and transit anchors near CSUN, and the residential neighborhood provides quieter, less densely developed surroundings than many other parts of Los Angeles.
See more original research from School Decision →