Forty-Second Street Elementary: Scores climb 2.1 points from grade 3 to grade 5. But one in four miss a month of school or more.
Forty-Second Street's strongest signal is real. Attendance is the number to ask about — and both belong on the same page.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46 | 11% | 27% | -2.1 | 30.7% | 0.2% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Forty-Second Street Elementary scores 46 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 58th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).
Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →
🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.
Most rating sites would stop at “27% proficient” and call it done. Forty-Second Street deserves a closer read. The school sits in Los Angeles, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: +2.1pp separates this year's grade 3 from its grade 5. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. Following the same students from 2023 G3 → 2025 G5 points the same way.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 4th to the 58th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 2900 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 27% of students meet the standard today, above the 5% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 5% | 19% | 13% | 20% | 26% |
| Grade 4 | 5% | 12% | 8% | 19% | 27% |
| Grade 5 | 13% | 11% | 15% | 17% | 28% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 4% | 14% | 16% | 20% | 29% |
| Grade 4 | 0% | 8% | 8% | 14% | 27% |
| Grade 5 | 5% | 19% | 8% | 8% | 24% |
The story this school is actually telling
separates this year's grade 3 from its grade 5. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. Following the same students from 2023 G3 → 2025 G5 points the same way.
of students miss a month or more of school, versus 17.9% statewide. High absence often tracks community stress — worth asking about on a tour.
The school, grade by grade
ELA · CAASPP 2024–25Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.
The honest read: the share exceeding rises 5.0pp across grades; the proficiency floor barely moves. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. Kids here gain ground the longer they stay — the pattern you want to see. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask how the school tracks and follows up on attendance. High absence often reflects community stress, not classroom quality — a visit will tell you which.
- Ask how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- Ask how teachers track each child's growth over the year, not just where the class lands on test day.
- Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom — watch how the teacher handles a student who's stuck.
- Ask to tour while school's in session, and notice how hallways and transitions feel — culture shows up between classes, not just in them.
- Ask how the school communicates with families when a child starts to struggle.
- Ask what a typical day looks like for a new student in the first few weeks.
How every group of students does here
At Forty-Second Street Elementary in Los Angeles, 27.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Forty-Second Street Elementary trails its district average for low-income students by 13.6 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (28.6% Math proficient); Black students (21.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 4.4 percentage points for black students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 77 students tested.
6 of 12 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
Change in proficiency from the lowest tested grade — which groups gain ground the longer they stay. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.
Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 1.9pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.5pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$4,730 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.
District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.
Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →
The neighborhood it serves
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level
At 215 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California elementary school (≈480).
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 14% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Forty-Second Street Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Forty-Second Street Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Forty-Second Street Elementary rank in California?
Is Forty-Second Street Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Forty-Second Street Elementary?
How does Forty-Second Street Elementary compare to other schools in Los Angeles?
How does Forty-Second Street Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 61
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
Every number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 34 | 9% | 18% | 18% | 56% | 26% | −17 |
| Grade 4 | 33 | 18% | 9% | 18% | 55% | 27% | −18 |
| Grade 5 | 29 | 14% | 14% | 28% | 45% | 28% | −20 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 34 | 12% | 18% | 29% | 41% | 29% | −16 |
| Grade 4 | 33 | 6% | 21% | 15% | 58% | 27% | −14 |
| Grade 5 | 29 | 10% | 14% | 31% | 45% | 24% | −11 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 29 | 0% | 14% | 66% | 21% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| Subgroup · ELA | Tested | MET+ | vs district | vs CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 77 | 27.3% | −14 | −11 |
| Black/African American | 60 | 21.7% | −14 | −11 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 27 | 40.7% | −0 | +2 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forty-Second Street Elementary ← | — | 46 | 11.5% | 27.0% | −2.1 | 0.2% |
| Wilder's Preparatory Academy Charter | 3 mi | 63 | 41.2% | 69.8% | +5.7 | 0.1% |
| Sixty-First Street Elementary | 2.7 mi | 61 | 18.8% | 38.5% | −3.7 | 0.4% |
| Saturn Street Elementary | 3.4 mi | 58 | 25.8% | 45.1% | −7.8 | 0.2% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 22 | 4 | #5272 | 2.1% | 5.4% | 40.0% | 0.1% | +4.7pp |
| 2022 | 15 | 3 | #5548 | 6.2% | 13.7% | 56.6% | 0.1% | -1.9pp |
| 2023 | 24 | 12 | #5046 | 2.6% | 11.3% | 50.1% | 0.1% | -2.5pp |
| 2024 | 22 | 5 | #5428 | 5.5% | 16.4% | 34.5% | 0.2% | -7.5pp |
| 2025 | 46 | 58 | #2392 | 11.5% | 27.0% | 30.7% | 0.2% | -2.1pp |
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 11 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 33.9% | 32.0% | -1.9pp |
| Male | 48.7% | 33.3% | -15.4pp |
| Black/African American | 51.0% | 30.2% | -20.8pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 17.1% | 35.1% | +18.0pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 34.5% | 48.1% | +13.6pp |
| English Learners | 3.3% | 33.3% | +30.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 41.6% | 32.7% | -8.9pp |
| All Students | 41.5% | 32.7% | -8.8pp |
| Foster Youth | — | 9.1% | — |
| Homeless | — | 50.0% | — |
SchoolScope scores and verdicts are our interpretation of public California Department of Education data — independent analysis, not an official rating. How we analyze · Request a correction