Bret Harte Preparatory Middle

Bret Harte Preparatory Middle is a 6-8 campus of low-enrollment scale in Los Angeles, California, overseen by Los Angeles Unified, works with 456 students in grades 6 through 8. That puts it 31% leaner than the typical public school in California, which averages around 659 students.

Within Los Angeles Unified, which oversees 784 schools and 406,887 students, Bret Harte Preparatory Middle is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, Bret Harte Preparatory Middle lists that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 67% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school logs 29% Black, 2% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 48% Hispanic, putting the school's mix considerably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Bret Harte Preparatory Middle has 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 16.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 20.7:1, putting Bret Harte Preparatory Middle tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 97% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Los Angeles County runs at roughly 70%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Bret Harte Preparatory Middle sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 21.5%; this one delivers 11.6%.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Los Angeles County) shows that median household income runs about $90,112, roughly 36% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Bret Harte Preparatory Middle is one of 2244 public schools in Los Angeles County (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students).

The closest other public school is Ednovate - South LA College Prep, roughly 0.0 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Bret Harte Preparatory Middle comes 4th of 4 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 29.8%.

The school occupies an urban site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 13%: 525 students in 2018 compared to 456 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment edged down from 74% to 67% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 23.5:1 in 2018 to 16.1:1 today.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.