As California's third-largest district, Long Beach Unified, or LBUSD, serves 86,000 students in Long Beach and neighboring Lakewood, Signal Hill. It also educates the students of Catalina Island off the Long Beach coast. Though it often falls in the shadow of larger L.A., national media attention and awards in recent years have put the district in the spotlight. It remains a nationally recognized district hailed for academic achievement in even the lowest income neighborhoods. It has won the prestigious Broad Prize, honoring the country's best urban school system. The district, extremely racially and economically diverse, has been a five-time finalist for the award. Nearly three-fourths of graduates enroll in college, the district says.
Thomas Kelly Elementary School is a small neighborhood school on Moraga Drive in Carmichael. School officials say the school is community-oriented. Kelly Elementary is a California Distinguished School.