NCES CCD 2024-25 20 schools CA

Best-Resourced Schools in Lakewood, CA

Compiled from official source data by .

20 public K-12 schools in Lakewood from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
20
Schools
13,188
Students
35.5/100
Avg Resource Index
22.3:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Lean reported-resource profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Lakewood has more public-school enrollment than 86% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Lakewood's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.

The school portfolio is elementary-weighted

14 of Lakewood's 20 listed schools are elementary campuses. That composition means citywide enrollment and staffing averages are influenced more by early-grade operating patterns than by the city's 1 middle and 4 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 57-point gap between Buena Vista High and Melbourne (Ella P.) Elementary shows the range hidden by Lakewood's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 14%
School count
Top 15%
Resource Index average
27th percentile
Teacher staffing
7th percentile

Mayfair High accounts for 18.4% of all Lakewood public-school enrollment

That concentration means Lakewood-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: Combined. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

Lakewood school enrollment varies 13× across entities

Lakewood school enrollment ranges from 180 students (lowest) to 2,422 students (highest), a spread of 2,242 students. That spread reflects typical urban portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

Lakewood reports 55.7% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share clears the 50% majority mark. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

Lakewood student-teacher ratio is 22.3:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Buena Vista High 70
2. Lakewood High 53
3. Willow Elementary 49
4. Hoover Middle 45
5. Mayfair High 41
6. Riley Elementary 40
7. Odyssey Stem Academy 37
8. Artesia High 36
9. Holmes Elementary 36
10. Gompers 36
11. Palms Elementary 35
12. Cleveland Elementary 33
13. Macarthur Elementary 31
14. Aloha Elementary 31
15. Intensive Learning Center 29
16. Esther Lindstrom Elementary 27
17. Madison Elementary 27
18. Stephen Foster Elementary 22
19. Craig Williams Elementary 19
20. Melbourne (Ella P.) Elementary 13

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Lakewood

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Madison Elementary 72.8/100
  2. 2 Esther Lindstrom Elementary 69.9/100
  3. 3 Holmes Elementary 68.4/100
  4. 4 Macarthur Elementary 67.9/100
  5. 5 Cleveland Elementary 67.7/100

What do families ask about schools in Lakewood?

Which Lakewood school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Buena Vista High has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Lakewood schools in this federal-data comparison at 70/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Lakewood, CA? ▼

Lakewood has 20 public schools with a total enrollment of 13,188 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 22.3:1.

Other Cities in California

Los Angeles
574 schools
San Diego
284 schools
San Jose
234 schools
Sacramento
197 schools
Fresno
180 schools
Bakersfield
146 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in California →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.