San Fernando Elementary, San Fernando CA

Original Research by School Decision on San Fernando Elementary

San Fernando Elementary serves the small, densely populated city of San Fernando, a tight-knit community in the northeast San Fernando Valley. The school enrolls a small population of students across kindergarten through fifth grade, drawn largely from the immediate neighborhood. The vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic conditions of the surrounding community. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a very small presence of other racial and ethnic groups.

On California's state assessments, San Fernando Elementary's proficiency rates are below the median for schools in Los Angeles County. In English language arts, overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile among county schools. Mathematics proficiency is similarly low. In science, tested only in fifth grade, proficiency is in the bottom quartile as well. Within the school itself, performance varies by grade: fifth grade students post the highest rates in both English language arts and mathematics, while fourth grade shows the lowest results. The school has only one year of assessment data, so trend information is not available.

The school sits within Los Angeles Unified, a large urban district currently navigating several major shifts. LAUSD has implemented an all-day cellphone ban for all students, effective since February 2025, which shapes the daily rhythm of school life and student-parent communication throughout the day. The district passed a major school facilities bond that will result in a long-term property tax increase for residents to fund repairs and upgrades to aging buildings. For families considering San Fernando Elementary, that tax increase is a concurrent change to the cost of living in the area. The district has also overhauled its Black Student Achievement Plan, which funds culturally responsive curriculum and targeted support staffing.

San Fernando itself is on a growth trajectory. The city is working to meet a significant housing allocation mandate through proposed mixed-use development along commercial corridors, and Metro's East San Fernando Valley Light Rail is under construction along Van Nuys Boulevard with a station planned to reach San Fernando Road, offering future transit connectivity. A Metrolink station already serves the area. The housing market reflects this context: home values in the zip code are substantial relative to national benchmarks, and rental costs are high relative to estimated household income, a squeeze families should examine carefully when weighing a move to the area.

A parent may want to look into further with the school the specific supports in place to address the proficiency gaps, what reading and math interventions are available, and how the school partners with families on learning at home. The data does not include information on English learner enrollment or special education enrollment, which would help contextualize the performance picture further.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 48% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 43% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 36% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 44% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 45% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 540%

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

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

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 2 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.