Summary:
ZIP code 90201 has 20 schools: 12 elementary, five middle, two high schools and one alternative school, serving a range of grade levels. Across the 17 schools with 2025–26 scores, unweighted all-grades averages were 39% in ELA, 29% in math and 23% in science, compared with 49%, 38% and 36% statewide. The average school was behind the state by 10 points in ELA, 10 in math and 13 in science. The most important takeaway is that area averages are below state results in every subject, but they do not describe the large differences between individual schools.
At the high-school level, Bell Senior High stands out in 11th-grade ELA: 72% of students were proficient, 14 points above the state and 28 points above Bell Gardens High, at 44%. Bell Senior also led Bell Gardens by 23 points in math and 15 in science. Among elementary-serving schools, Teresa Hughes Elementary led 5th-grade ELA at 51%, while Suva Elementary was at 17—a 35-point spread. Jaime Escalante Elementary led 5th-grade math at 45%, 8 points above the state; Elizabeth Learning Center was lowest at 16%.
Recent changes are mixed: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, average school results rose by 1 point in ELA and 2 points in both math and science, but the gap to the state narrowed in ELA and math and widened by 1 point in science. One notable exception is Teresa Hughes, whose all-grades science result fell 24 points, from 38% to 14%. SchoolDigger’s percentile rankings also moved in different directions: Bell Senior rose from the 54th to the 73rd percentile, while Jaime Escalante moved from the 66th to the 53rd. As context, free/reduced lunch eligible shares in sy 2024–25 ranged from 77% at Magnolia Science Academy Bell to 98% at Orchard Academies 2C; student–teacher ratios ranged from 16.2 at Orchard Academies 2B to 22.8 at Suva Intermediate. These measures provide context, not an explanation for score differences.
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