Best Middle Schools in California

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Find the best California middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish California test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the CAST and Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores by the California Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2018)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 2777)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
061716005507	1051	Hickman Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	13306 Fourth St.	Hickman	95323	Stanislaus County	Hickman Community Charter	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 874-9070	579	24	23.6	42.1%	356 (61.5%)	13 (2.2%)	147 (25.4%)	15 (2.6%)	7 (1.2%)	2 (0.3%)	39 (6.7%)	$8,557							53.6	71.7	648	403
062223008617	1052	Joe Serna Junior Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	4620 East Acampo Rd.	Acampo	95220	San Joaquin County	Lodi Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 331-7809	366	19	19.5	79.0%	51 (13.9%)	2 (0.5%)	301 (82.2%)	4 (1.1%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.6%)	$9,751							53.6	51	1135	83
060681008590	1053	Cajon Valley Home	Public, Virtual	K-8	2962 Jamul Dr.	El Cajon	92019	San Diego County	Cajon Valley Union	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(619) 588-3128	164	8	19.5	72.6%	49 (29.9%)	5 (3.0%)	90 (54.9%)	7 (4.3%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (6.7%)	$10,167							53.5	43.6	1353	300
060253914488	1054	OCASA College Prep	Public, Charter	6-12	31522 El Camino Real	San Juan Capistrano	92675	Orange County	OCASA College Prep District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 269-3290	105	9	11.6	38.1%	51 (48.6%)	1 (1.0%)	33 (31.4%)	3 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (16.2%)								53.5	53.8	1065	11
060224510992	1055	Orange County Educational Arts Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	825 North Broadway	Santa Ana	92701	Orange County	Orange County Educational Arts Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 558-2787	629	32	19.7	57.7%	31 (4.9%)	1 (0.2%)	577 (91.7%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	15 (2.4%)								53.5	58.9	939	116
060165812905	1056	Animo Ellen Ochoa Charter Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	4360 Dozier St.	Los Angeles	90022	Los Angeles County	Animo Ellen Ochoa Charter Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 565-3245	298	15	19.3	96.0%	2 (0.7%)	2 (0.7%)	293 (98.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								53.4	39.4	1482	426
060681011751	1057	Los Coches Creek Middle	Public	6-8	9669 Dunbar Ln.	El Cajon	92021	San Diego County	Cajon Valley Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 441-5741	552	25	21.7	63.2%	307 (55.6%)	6 (1.1%)	186 (33.7%)	8 (1.4%)	4 (0.7%)	4 (0.7%)	37 (6.7%)	$11,108							53.4	55.2	1024	33
063543014549	1058	Dolores Huerta Middle	Public	6-8	3556 Zanker Rd.	San Jose	95134	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-2000	607	29	20.8	42.2%	75 (12.4%)	22 (3.6%)	277 (45.6%)	190 (31.3%)	5 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	37 (6.1%)								53.4	53.6	1068	10
063432005456	1059	Farb Middle	Public	6-8	4880 La Cuenta Dr.	San Diego	92124	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 397-6750	446	28	15.7	66.8%	148 (33.2%)	49 (11.0%)	173 (38.8%)	24 (5.4%)	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	48 (10.8%)	$8,739							53.2	64.3	788	271
060140900490	1060	Home Street Middle	Public	6-8	201 Home St.	Bishop	93514	Inyo County	Bishop Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 872-1381	398	22	18.3	68.8%	129 (32.4%)	1 (0.3%)	169 (42.5%)	5 (1.3%)	53 (13.3%)	0 (0.0%)	41 (10.3%)	$5,649							53.2	48.9	1198	138

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics, CAST Science test scores released by the California Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 10, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the California Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education.