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)
062865012382	1721	OUSD Home School	Public, Alternative	K-12	250 South Yorba St.	Orange	92869	Orange County	Orange Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 628-5479	40	2	19.6	50.0%	11 (27.5%)	1 (2.5%)	21 (52.5%)	3 (7.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (10.0%)	$11,012							32.4	24.8	2064	343
060204403819	1722	Desert Trails Preparatory Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	14350 Bellflower Rd.	Adelanto	92301	San Bernardino County	Desert Trails Preparatory Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 530-7680	442	25	17.6	79.9%	9 (2.0%)	57 (12.9%)	345 (78.1%)	7 (1.6%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.7%)	20 (4.5%)								32.2	44.4	1332	390
060178714225	1723	High Technical LA Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	5435 Vesper Ave. Rm. B50	Van Nuys	91411	Los Angeles County	High Technical LA Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 583-6229	244	11	22.1	43.9%	204 (83.6%)	3 (1.2%)	29 (11.9%)	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.0%)								32.1	46.2	1285	438
060233014244	1724	Pivot Charter School - North Bay	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2999 Cleveland Ave.	Santa Rosa	95403	Sonoma County	Pivot Charter School - North Bay District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(707) 843-4676	423	26	16.3	59.1%	152 (35.9%)	9 (2.1%)	201 (47.5%)	6 (1.4%)	10 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (8.7%)								32.1	13.8	2566	842
062808009966	1725	O'Hara Park Middle	Public	6-8	1100 O'Hara Ave.	Oakley	94561	Contra Costa County	Oakley Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 625-5060	836	35	24	42.7%	232 (27.8%)	64 (7.7%)	418 (50.0%)	93 (11.1%)	3 (0.4%)	7 (0.8%)	19 (2.3%)	$7,222							32	30.8	1789	64
062271003030	1726	Henry T. Gage Middle	Public	6-8	2880 East Gage Ave.	Huntington Park	90255	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 826-1500	1,191	69	17.3	95.9%	29 (2.4%)	2 (0.2%)	1,154 (96.9%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	$9,647							32	26.7	1971	245
063261013953	1727	Rim Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	27390 Highway 18	Lake Arrowhead	92352	San Bernardino County	Rim of the World Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(909) 744-9520	83	4	20	61.4%	47 (56.6%)	1 (1.2%)	32 (38.6%)	2 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)								32			(n/a)
062133002549	1728	Lemon Grove Academy for the Sciences and Humanities	Public	7-8	7866 Lincoln St.	Lemon Grove	91945	San Diego County	Lemon Grove	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 825-5628	522	26	20.3	73.0%	36 (6.9%)	70 (13.4%)	344 (65.9%)	31 (5.9%)	6 (1.1%)	3 (0.6%)	32 (6.1%)								32	31.4	1766	38
060006414357	1729	Porterville Military Academy	Public, Charter	7-12	900 West Pioneer Ave.	Porterville	93257	Tulare County	Porterville Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 782-7300	296	15	20	63.2%	52 (17.6%)	2 (0.7%)	225 (76.0%)	5 (1.7%)	3 (1.0%)	1 (0.3%)	8 (2.7%)								32	29.1	1847	118
060239313947	1730	PUC Nueva Esperanza Charter Academy	Public, Charter	6-8	1218 North Fourth St.	San Fernando	91340	Los Angeles County	PUC Nueva Esperanza Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 256-1951	352	16	22	91.8%	9 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	339 (96.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.6%)								31.9	27.3	1940	210

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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