Sierra Madre Elementary

Located at 141 West Highland Ave., in Sierra Madre, California, Sierra Madre Elementary is a reasonably sized elementary school that hosts 652 students (grades K through 5), operated by Pasadena Unified. That puts it 40% bigger than the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Pasadena Unified comprises 23 schools with combined enrollment of 13,639 students; Sierra Madre Elementary is among them.

On demographics, Sierra Madre Elementary logs that the most-represented group is White (45%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 24% Hispanic, 19% multiracial, 11% Asian. That is meaningfully more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 31%.

Looking at school resources, Sierra Madre Elementary records 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 24.3:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. Around 30% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Los Angeles County (around 70%), the school's rate is somewhat below typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Sierra Madre Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 61.8%; this one delivers 71.5%.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Los Angeles County put the typical household earns roughly $90,112 per year, roughly 36% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Across Los Angeles County's 2244 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students), Sierra Madre Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Sierra Madre Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Sierra Madre Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Sierra Madre Elementary at 4th of 8; the average score across the group is 63.5%.

The school occupies a suburban site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 3%: 673 students in 2018 compared to 652 in 2025. The White share of enrollment shrank from 59% to 45% over that span.

On the community side, the feed for Sierra Madre Elementary typically covers school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.