La Merced Academy: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
La Merced Academy posts 33% meeting the standard and 13.2% exceeding it, against 43% and 21.3% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43 | 13% | 33% | -21.4 | 12.9% | 0.8% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
La Merced Academy scores 43 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 51st 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 →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “33% proficient” and call it done. La Merced Academy deserves a closer read. The school sits in Montebello, where two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 10th to the 51st percentile since 2019 — past roughly 2100 elementary schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 33% of students meet the standard today, above the 30% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 41% | 31% | 16% | 31% | 45% |
| Grade 4 | 35% | 21% | 32% | 27% | 28% |
| Grade 5 | 30% | 35% | 24% | 40% | 28% |
| Grade 6 | — | — | 56% | 29% | 60% |
| Grade 7 | — | — | — | 76% | 64% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 42% | 27% | 22% | 33% | 48% |
| Grade 4 | 21% | 15% | 30% | 24% | 27% |
| Grade 5 | 10% | 21% | 14% | 22% | 22% |
| Grade 6 | — | — | 47% | 35% | 47% |
| Grade 7 | — | — | — | 60% | 30% |
The story this school is actually telling
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 falls 3.5pp across grades; the floor slips 17.3pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.
- Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- 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 La Merced Academy in Montebello, 38.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 35.7% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. La Merced Academy outperforms its district average for low-income students by 2.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (30.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (43.1% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 42.0 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 293 students tested.
6 of 13 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 falls by 17.2pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +2.7pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated path based on proximity within the same district. Contact your school district for official feeder information.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$363 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
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 33% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is La Merced Academy a good elementary school?
What are La Merced Academy's CAASPP test scores?
How does La Merced Academy rank in California?
Is La Merced Academy getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at La Merced Academy?
How does La Merced Academy compare to other schools in Montebello?
How does La Merced Academy serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 67
Nearby Middle Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 45
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 52
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 | 69 | 13% | 32% | 22% | 33% | 45% | +2 |
| Grade 4 | 95 | 19% | 9% | 15% | 57% | 28% | −16 |
| Grade 5 | 94 | 10% | 18% | 20% | 52% | 28% | −20 |
| Grade 6 | 58 | 28% | 33% | 21% | 19% | 60% | +14 |
| Grade 7 | 33 | 18% | 45% | 21% | 15% | 64% | +16 |
| Grade 8 | 40 | 48% | 20% | 20% | 13% | 68% | +21 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 69 | 13% | 35% | 26% | 26% | 48% | +2 |
| Grade 4 | 93 | 14% | 13% | 34% | 39% | 27% | −15 |
| Grade 5 | 94 | 11% | 12% | 19% | 59% | 22% | −13 |
| Grade 6 | 58 | 29% | 17% | 26% | 28% | 47% | +12 |
| Grade 7 | 30 | 20% | 10% | 37% | 33% | 30% | −4 |
| Grade 8 | 41 | 39% | 17% | 20% | 24% | 56% | +24 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 134 | 10% | 22% | 40% | 27% |
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 | 293 | 38.2% | +3 | +0 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 374 | 43.1% | +7 | +4 |
| English Learners | 85 | 15.3% | +7 | +5 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Merced Academy ← | — | 43 | 13.2% | 33.0% | −21.4 | 0.8% |
| Potrero Heights Elementary | 1.7 mi | 77 | 44.9% | 69.4% | +11.7 | 0.3% |
| Monterey Vista Elementary | 2.5 mi | 63 | 49.1% | 70.9% | −9.5 | 0.6% |
| Bitely (Arlene) Elementary | 2.7 mi | 60 | 34.5% | 61.6% | −16.8 | 1.0% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 26 | 10 | #4928 | 8.9% | 29.8% | 10.0% | 0.2% | -21.6pp |
| 2022 | 31 | 37 | #3624 | 9.8% | 25.1% | 35.1% | 0.0% | -1.3pp |
| 2023 | 36 | 42 | #3342 | 9.0% | 22.8% | 28.3% | 0.3% | -0.3pp |
| 2024 | 40 | 45 | #3132 | 11.8% | 29.5% | 16.6% | 1.0% | -0.9pp |
| 2025 | 43 | 51 | #2817 | 13.2% | 33.0% | 12.9% | 0.8% | -21.4pp |
- — Scored here as an elementary school — other grade spans appear in the data appendix.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 9.7% | 12.0% | +2.3pp |
| Male | 10.3% | 13.2% | +2.9pp |
| Asian | 8.3% | — | — |
| Filipino | 7.1% | — | — |
| Hispanic/Latino | 10.3% | 12.4% | +2.1pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 12.4% | 22.9% | +10.5pp |
| English Learners | 7.2% | 12.6% | +5.4pp |
| Foster Youth | 33.3% | — | — |
| Homeless | 16.7% | 28.6% | +11.9pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 10.8% | 14.0% | +3.2pp |
| All Students | 10.0% | 12.6% | +2.6pp |
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