Wesley Gaines

Wesley Gaines operates as a mid-tier elementary school in Paramount, California, run under Paramount Unified. Current enrollment sits at 449 students spanning grades K through 5.

Paramount Unified comprises 19 schools with combined enrollment of 11,623 students; Wesley Gaines is among them.

Demographically, Wesley Gaines reports that nearly all students (88%) are Hispanic. The remainder breaks down as 7% Black, 2% Asian. By comparison, Los Angeles County as a whole is about 48% Hispanic, so the school skews considerably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the resource side, On paper, Wesley Gaines has 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 22.4:1. The state averages about 22.3:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 97% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Los Angeles County's rate of about 70%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Wesley Gaines sits in the top 10% of California schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 21.6%; actual is 43.6%, +22.0 points clear of the demographic baseline.

In the area at large, census data for Los Angeles County shows median household earnings sit near $90,112, roughly 36% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Wesley Gaines is one of 2244 public schools in Los Angeles County (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students).

Leona Jackson is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Wesley Gaines ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 33.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a bedroom-community area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count rose 4%: 430 students in 2018 compared to 449 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.