Turns Out We're Kind of a Big Deal (Data Included)

Hi CDA Families and Community,

Local parenting newsletter Venice Rising just published its annual deep-dive on Westside test scores, and CDA didn't just make the list: we're the headline. The article is "Westside LA Public School Rankings, 2025 CAASPP".

We know, we know, nobody loves a spreadsheet. But indulge us, because these numbers are worth celebrating.

Coeur d'Alene Elementary, the biggest score jump in the region

Plus 10.65 points. Our ELA scores jumped from 69.1% to 79.7% in a single year. Venice Rising confirmed it's the single biggest year-over-year jump of any public school in the entire Westside coverage area: Venice, Santa Monica, Mar Vista, Playa Vista, and Marina del Rey combined. We didn't just improve. We won the improvement.

Math climbed too. Up 4 points, because apparently we don't do things halfway.

Punching well above what its neighborhood income alone would predict

That's a direct quote from the article. Across the Westside, test scores and household income are almost perfectly correlated (-0.82, for the stats nerds): richer zip codes test higher, virtually every time, no exceptions. CDA is one of the rare schools breaking that pattern. Translation: this isn't demographics doing the work. This is our school and parenting community.

One year. One new principal.

Principal Fang's first full year at CDA lined up exactly with this jump and it's not a coincidence. It's grants chased down and landed, a STEAM lab and special programming built out to meet kids and excite their love of learning. Our classroom aides are in your kid's classrooms every single day making all of it run.

And underneath it all: you. Community engagement is the multiplier here. Every volunteer hour, every fundraiser, every parent who shows up is baked into these numbers whether a spreadsheet gives you credit for it or not.

Come claim some of that credit in person

Friday, August 21: Family Picnic from 5 to 7 PM at the CDA lawn (big yard). Pizza, salad, cookies, beverages, and merch will be for sale. Bring your own snacks and drinks if you so choose, along with blankets, beach chairs, lawn games, and board games to play. Bring the whole family.

Tuesday, August 25: Friends of CDA's first all-parent meeting at 4 PM in the auditorium and via Zoom. Learn about our budget, what events we are planning this year, and how you can get involved.

Proud of this school. Proud of these kids. Go CDA.

Your FOCDA friends

P.S. Already know you want to support Friends of CDA to ensure your kids have the resources they need to be middle-school ready? Donate $5 a day, which totals $1,600 for the year, less than one month of preschool here in LA.