Playa del Rey Elementary: English learners reach fluency faster than the state rate. But this year's 5th graders test below its 3rd graders.
Playa del Rey has real strengths and one number that complicates them. Most rating sites show you one or the other. Both belong on the same page.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 54 | 38% | 65% | -9.5 | 14.0% | 0.2% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Playa del Rey Elementary scores 54 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 73rd 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 →
🏫 Solid Base — Ask what the school does for a kid who's already meeting the standard with room to spare — steady proficiency across the board doesn't tell you whether the strongest kids are being pushed further.
Most rating sites would stop at “65% proficient” and call it done. Playa del Rey deserves a closer read. The school sits in Culver City, where two in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Playa del Rey's low-income kids hit 60.0% proficiency in ELA — a number the same group reaches at 38.2% statewide. If you're trying to read past zip-code-driven test scores, that's the signal worth weighing.
The seven-year arc
Has held the 73rd-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 65% meet the standard today, versus 70% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 81% | 72% | 82% | 78% | 63% |
| Grade 4 | 76% | 59% | 65% | 70% | 84% |
| Grade 5 | 83% | 69% | 70% | 61% | 61% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 74% | 78% | 70% | 82% | 61% |
| Grade 4 | 62% | 47% | 68% | 61% | 79% |
| Grade 5 | 43% | 57% | 61% | 44% | 44% |
The story this school is actually telling
of English learners reached the top ELPAC level, versus 18.0% statewide.
proficiency runs 62% in this year's grade 3 against 52% in its grade 5. The state average rises by +4.5pp over the same span.
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 holds steady across grades; the floor slips 2.1pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. The school's 5th graders aren't posting a wider lead than its 3rd graders. One question worth asking on a tour: are the strongest students being pushed, or coasting? A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Playa del Rey's most underrated number
60.0% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide. That's the strongest kind of signal a school can post: it holds across income lines.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask the principal what changes between grade 3 and grade 5. Ask who teaches the older grades, and what the school does when a child starts falling behind.
- Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- Ask whether extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- Ask which schools families here actually choose next — the zoned path is only the default.
- 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.
How every group of students does here
At Playa del Rey Elementary in Culver City, 60.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Playa del Rey Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 19.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (53.3% Math proficient); Hispanic students (54.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 14.9 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 60 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 falls by 18.8pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +4.5pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (22.7% vs 9.5%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.
Where the path goes
The zoned path continues to Marina del Rey Middle, which scores 19 points lower than this school — worth weighing alongside everything above. Families here often look at charter or magnet options for middle school.
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
These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.
$1,084 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), 41% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Playa del Rey Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Playa del Rey Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Playa del Rey Elementary rank in California?
Is Playa del Rey Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Playa del Rey Elementary?
How does Playa del Rey Elementary compare to other schools in Culver City?
How does Playa del Rey Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 75
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 | 46 | 41% | 22% | 24% | 13% | 63% | +20 |
| Grade 4 | 43 | 44% | 40% | 9% | 7% | 84% | +39 |
| Grade 5 | 41 | 41% | 20% | 24% | 15% | 61% | +13 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 46 | 35% | 26% | 20% | 20% | 61% | +15 |
| Grade 4 | 43 | 37% | 42% | 16% | 5% | 79% | +37 |
| Grade 5 | 41 | 29% | 15% | 41% | 15% | 44% | +9 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 41 | 17% | 24% | 46% | 12% |
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 | 60 | 60.0% | +19 | +22 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 57 | 54.4% | +13 | +16 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playa del Rey Elementary ← | — | 54 | 38.0% | 65.3% | −9.5 | 0.2% |
| Kentwood Elementary | 1.3 mi | 77 | 63.2% | 80.7% | −14.8 | 0.4% |
| Mar Vista Elementary | 2.8 mi | 77 | 55.0% | 83.1% | −1.1 | 0.1% |
| Open Charter Magnet | 2 mi | 72 | 40.0% | 67.9% | +18.3 | 0.1% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 57 | 77 | #1263 | 38.5% | 69.6% | 9.8% | 0.1% | -14.9pp |
| 2022 | 51 | 78 | #1263 | 34.5% | 63.8% | 16.8% | 0.1% | -11.7pp |
| 2023 | 53 | 77 | #1323 | 39.0% | 69.2% | 20.3% | 0.1% | -11.0pp |
| 2024 | 56 | 78 | #1263 | 38.8% | 66.1% | 13.7% | 0.2% | -27.2pp |
| 2025 | 54 | 73 | #1539 | 38.0% | 65.3% | 14.0% | 0.2% | -9.5pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 11.5% | 9.1% | -2.4pp |
| Male | 7.9% | 18.1% | +10.2pp |
| Asian | 7.1% | 17.6% | +10.5pp |
| Black/African American | 7.9% | 8.8% | +0.9pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 8.0% | 15.1% | +7.1pp |
| Two or More Races | 6.9% | 11.6% | +4.7pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 15.0% | 20.0% | +5.0pp |
| English Learners | 26.1% | 21.1% | -5.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 13.2% | 22.1% | +8.9pp |
| All Students | 9.8% | 13.5% | +3.7pp |
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