The top reported proficiency rate is 64% in English language arts. The lowest is 39% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on South Shores/csudh Visual and Performing Arts
South Shores/CSUDH Visual and Performing Arts sits on West 35th Street in San Pedro, a coastal Los Angeles neighborhood with a working-class, multi-generational identity built around the Port of Los Angeles and a modest but active arts scene. The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and is classified by the state as an alternative school within Los Angeles Unified. Its name signals the organizing idea: a partnership with California State University Dominguez Hills and an instructional focus on visual and performing arts woven into the elementary years.
Because this is a K-5 school, there is no graduation rate to report and no high school program to describe. State testing covers grades three through five on the CAASPP Smarter Balanced assessments for English language arts and math, and fifth graders also take the California Science Test. The most recent results show a clear pattern by grade. Third graders perform well in both ELA and math, placing the school in a strong position. By fourth and fifth grade, proficiency in both subjects drops noticeably, and fifth-grade science results fall to a level that a parent would reasonably want to ask the school about. Across all tested grades combined, the school sits above the midpoint relative to districts in Los Angeles County, which is a meaningful position in a county with over four hundred districts. That said, the gap between third-grade and fifth-grade outcomes is wide enough that it is worth raising with the school directly.
Enrollment is roughly in the mid-hundreds range for an elementary campus, spread evenly across the six grades. The student body is majority Hispanic, with a substantial white enrollment and a meaningful share of students identifying as two or more races. A portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, though that share is below what you would see at many LAUSD schools. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available in what was provided.
The school carries an alternative designation from the state, and it operates as a non-charter LAUSD school. Because program data was not included in the payload, the specifics of how arts integration is structured, what CSUDH's involvement looks like day to day, and what enrichment or support services are available are questions to bring directly to the school.
As part of LAUSD, the school operates under several district-wide policies families should know. A district-wide cellphone ban took effect in early 2025, prohibiting student device use throughout the entire school day including lunch, enforced with lockable storage pouches at most campuses. Voters also approved a large school facilities bond that will be repaid through property tax increases lasting potentially decades, a real factor for anyone buying a home in the area. LAUSD's Black Student Achievement Plan, which funds culturally responsive curriculum and counseling support, was restructured in 2024 and received additional funding for the current school year; whether this campus is among those it targets is not stated in the data provided.
San Pedro itself is a neighborhood in transition. Home values here sit well above the California statewide median and substantially above the national figure, and rents consume a large share of a typical household income at prevailing rates. A major waterfront redevelopment on the former Ports O' Call site is scheduled to open around 2026, and a large master-planned housing development on former naval land is being built out incrementally by multiple homebuilders. For families already in the neighborhood, walkability depends heavily on which part of San Pedro you are in: the downtown core around Pacific Avenue is genuinely pedestrian-friendly, while hillside residential areas are more car-dependent. Bus service connects to the broader Metro network, and the Catalina Express ferry operates from the waterfront.
Chronic absenteeism data was not available in the provided information, which is a meaningful gap given that attendance patterns in the lower grades can shape longer-term outcomes. Anyone considering enrollment would do well to ask the school how attendance has trended and what the arts-integrated model looks like in practice across each grade level.
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