The top reported proficiency rate is 17% in English language arts. The lowest is 13% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Ninth Street Elementary
Ninth Street Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in central Los Angeles, a neighborhood-based school with just under three hundred students in a densely populated, predominantly Latino part of the city. The school operates within Los Angeles Unified, a sprawling urban district that has recently implemented several system-wide changes worth knowing about: a district-wide cellphone ban during the school day as of early 2025, a major school facilities bond that will raise property taxes on homeowners and renters over decades, and an expanded Black Student Achievement Plan focused on culturally responsive teaching.
The school sits in a high-poverty census tract. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is roughly four-fifths Latino, with smaller shares of Black, Asian, multiracial, and white students. The student body is reflective of the Los Angeles immigrant economy and working-class neighborhoods that make up much of the city's fabric.
Academically, Ninth Street's proficiency rates are substantially below state and county benchmarks. In English language arts across tested grades, roughly one in five students met proficiency standards in 2024-25; in mathematics, around one in eight. The pattern holds across grade levels, with proficiency increasing somewhat in upper elementary but remaining low overall. In fifth-grade science, about one in seven students reached proficiency. Against other districts in Los Angeles County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. These are numbers a parent will want to discuss directly with the school and the district: low state test performance often reflects a combination of poverty, limited home literacy exposure, language barriers for English learners, transience, family stress, and resource constraints, and a school's actual trajectory and response matter as much as a single year's snapshot. A parent should ask about curriculum interventions, literacy and math supports, how the school tracks and addresses gaps, and what improvements, if any, are underway.
The school is small and serves its own neighborhood rather than drawing from across the city. Housing in the 90021 zip code reflects working-class Los Angeles: home values are moderate by county standards and rents are steep relative to income, typical of central LA. Families here are often working in service, construction, retail, or skilled trades, and many are recent immigrants or immigrant families navigating school and language barriers.
Ninth Street has no magnet program, specialized theme, or alternative educational design; it is a regular public elementary school. The Los Angeles public library system, Metro transit connections, and neighborhood parks are part of the civic infrastructure available to families, and the city has ongoing housing and neighborhood development, though much of that growth is concentrated downtown and westside areas rather than central LA.
State assessment data for grades kindergarten through two are not available, as California does not test those grades. Data on special education enrollment and English learner enrollment are not reported in the public record. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the composition of its English learner population and the services available.
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