Hillcrest Elementary

Hillcrest Elementary is one of the reasonably sized elementary schools in Monterey Park, California, overseen by Garvey Elementary, with 439 students on its rolls from grades K through 6.

Garvey Elementary comprises 11 schools with combined enrollment of 4,235 students; Hillcrest Elementary is among them.

In terms of who attends, Hillcrest Elementary reports that the largest single group is Asian, at 66% of enrollment; the rest looks like 27% Hispanic, 6% multiracial. By comparison, Los Angeles County as a whole is about 15% Asian, so the school skews noticeably more Asian than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 20.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 70% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Hillcrest Elementary sits in the top 10% of California schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 37.6%; actual is 56.5%, +18.9 points clear of the demographic baseline.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Los Angeles County) logs that the typical household earns roughly $90,112 per year, roughly 36% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Los Angeles County's 2244 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students), Hillcrest Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Monterey Vista Elementary, roughly 0.6 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Hillcrest Elementary ranks 5th on composite proficiency, above the local average of 54.8%.

The campus sits in a bedroom-community setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count grew 16%: 378 students in 2018 compared to 439 in 2025. Asian enrollment moved from 50% to 66% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 23.6:1 in 2018 to 20.9:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.