NCES CCD 2024-25 5 schools CA

Best-Resourced Schools in South Pasadena, CA

Compiled from official source data by PlainSchools. · Updated July 2026

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

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Schools

4,652

Students

38.4/100

Avg Resource Index

24.4:1

Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Compact, single-district system

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, South Pasadena has more public-school enrollment than 52% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. South Pasadena's 5 listed schools all sit inside one district, creating a compact governance structure with one budget, board, and reporting chain. That makes citywide comparisons cleaner than in places split across several districts, but it does not make the campuses interchangeable: elementary, middle, and high-school staffing needs differ. The ranked list is best read as variation inside one system rather than competition among separate local authorities.

The school portfolio is elementary-weighted

3 of South Pasadena's 5 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 1 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.

The composite and staffing measures point in different directions

South Pasadena's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 39th percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 3rd percentile. The 36-point percentile gap is a reminder that the index is not a class-size score: counselors, gifted-program reporting, and attendance also affect it. Compare those components directly when two schools have similar index totals; the same headline score can arise from a different mix of reported resources.

City enrollment: Top 48%
School count: Top 99%
Resource Index average: 39th percentile
Teacher staffing: 3rd percentile

South Pasadena Senior High accounts for 33.0% of all South Pasadena public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means South Pasadena-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. 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 Accessed 2026-07-30

South Pasadena school enrollment varies 2.7× across entities

South Pasadena school enrollment ranges from 570 students (lowest) to 1,536 students (highest), a spread of 966 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. 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 Accessed 2026-07-30

South Pasadena operates one school district — a single-district system

South Pasadena's listed schools share one district boundary, budget authority, and reporting chain. That makes citywide and districtwide governance easier to compare, but it does not make individual campuses uniform: grade configuration, staffing, programs, and student need can still vary materially within the same school district.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data Accessed 2026-07-30

South Pasadena student-teacher ratio is 24.4:1 — 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 Accessed 2026-07-30

#	School	Score	Enrollment	Level	District
1.	Arroyo Vista Elementary	40	667	elementary	South Pasadena Unified
2.	Marengo Elementary	39	783	elementary	South Pasadena Unified
3.	Monterey Hills Elementary	39	570	elementary	South Pasadena Unified
4.	South Pasadena Senior High	37	1,536	high	South Pasadena Unified
5.	South Pasadena Middle	37	1,096	middle	South Pasadena Unified

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in South Pasadena

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.

What do families ask about schools in South Pasadena?

Which South Pasadena school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Arroyo Vista Elementary has the highest Resource Investment Index among the South Pasadena schools in this federal-data comparison at 40/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in South Pasadena, CA? ▼

South Pasadena has 5 public schools with a total enrollment of 4,652 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 24.4:1.

Other Cities in California

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.