The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in English language arts. The lowest is 39% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Tarzana Elementary
Tarzana Elementary sits on Topeka Drive in the residential flats of Tarzana, a quieter corner of the San Fernando Valley where the neighborhood runs mostly single-family homes and mid-century ranch houses north of the Ventura Boulevard commercial corridor. The school is part of Los Angeles Unified and serves kindergarten through fifth grade, so graduation rates and high school metrics simply do not apply here.
The student body is small for an elementary school in a large urban district. Nearly every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a striking economic contrast with the surrounding Tarzana zip code, where home values run far above both the California statewide median and the national median. Renters in this zip face a rent-to-income burden that is quite steep by national standards. The enrollment is predominantly Hispanic, with white students making up the next largest share and smaller groups of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. Data on English learner identification and special education rates were not available in the data provided.
On the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, the school's results for the most recent year place it below the midpoint among the districts in Los Angeles County on an overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades. In English Language Arts, roughly half or just under half of students in the tested grades scored at or above the standard, with fourth grade coming in somewhat above third and fifth. Math results were weaker across the board, with third and fourth grade in the mid-to-upper forties and fifth grade dipping notably lower. Science, tested at fifth grade through the California Science Test, came in below the math and ELA figures for that grade. Because only one year of data is available, trend direction cannot be assessed. A parent wanting to understand whether these results are moving up, holding steady, or declining would need to ask the school directly.
The school has no charter or magnet designation and carries no Title I status flag in the available data, though the near-universal free and reduced-price lunch rate would make that gap worth clarifying with the school or district.
Los Angeles Unified has made several district-level changes that directly affect daily life at any LAUSD campus. A district-wide ban on cellphones, smartwatches, and earbuds went into effect in early 2025 and covers the entire school day including lunch and breaks. Voters also approved a large school facilities bond, publicly reported as LAUSD's largest ever, which will fund repairs and upgrades to aging buildings but is repaid through a property tax increase that families moving into the district should factor into housing costs over a long horizon.
The neighborhood context around the school matters for families thinking about daily logistics. The Tarzana Recreation Center and the Encino-Tarzana branch library are within the neighborhood and offer after-school and community programming. The Metro G Line's Reseda station is nearby, connecting toward North Hollywood and the broader rail and rapid-bus network, which matters more for older students and commuting parents than for elementary-age children. New mid-rise mixed-use development along Ventura Boulevard, including a recently approved project and a hospital expansion at Providence Cedars-Sinai, signals some ongoing change in the commercial corridor, though the residential streets around the school remain stable.
Program-level information for Tarzana Elementary was not available in the data, so specifics about arts, enrichment, dual-language offerings, or after-school programs would need to come directly from the school or the LAUSD school finder. For a family whose child would be among the small share not qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, it is worth understanding more about how the school structures support and enrichment across its full range of learners.
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