Kester Avenue Elementary

Kester Avenue Elementary is a large elementary school in Van Nuys, California, operated by Los Angeles Unified. The school hosts 886 students in grades K through 5. That puts it 91% above the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Within Los Angeles Unified, which oversees 784 schools and 406,887 students, Kester Avenue Elementary is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Kester Avenue Elementary lists that the largest single group is Hispanic at 34%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 28% White, 20% multiracial, 13% Asian, 5% Black. By comparison, Los Angeles County as a whole is about 48% Hispanic, so the school skews considerably less Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 36 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 24.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. Around 47% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Los Angeles County runs at roughly 70%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Kester Avenue Elementary is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 51.5%; this one delivers 72.8%, a residual of +21.3 points.

In the area at large, census data for Los Angeles County shows median household earnings sit near $90,112, about 36% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Kester Avenue Elementary is one of 2244 public schools in Los Angeles County (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students).

Van Nuys Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Kester Avenue Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Kester Avenue Elementary at 2nd of 7; the average score across the group is 49.3%.

The campus sits in a high-density setting.

Five-year trend. Kester Avenue Elementary's enrollment has edged down 13% since 2018, when it stood at 1,022 (now 886). White enrollment moved from 39% to 28% across the same window.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for Kester Avenue Elementary typically covers school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.