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)
062004014006	381	Old River Elementary	Public	K-8	30 Learning Ln.	Brentwood	94513	Contra Costa County	Knightsen Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 626-3330	309	14	22.8	15.5%	145 (46.9%)	6 (1.9%)	113 (36.6%)	13 (4.2%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.3%)	28 (9.1%)	$9,897							85.1	77.2	546	165
060188012013	382	American Indian Public Charter School II	Public, Charter	K-8	171 12th St.	Oakland	94607	Alameda County	American Indian Public Charter School II District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 893-8701	628	22	28.7	77.1%	36 (5.7%)	284 (45.2%)	46 (7.3%)	230 (36.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (4.9%)								84.9	79.7	493	111
063171008945	383	Mountain Valley Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	1010 Ramona St.	Ramona	92065	San Diego County	Ramona City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 787-3600	195	9	21.4	45.1%	121 (62.1%)	1 (0.5%)	56 (28.7%)	3 (1.5%)	2 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (6.2%)	$5,350							84.8	77.3	543	160
062271002970	384	Eagle Rock High	Public	7-12	1750 Yosemite Dr.	Los Angeles	90041	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 340-3500	2,059	107	19.2	49.5%	375 (18.2%)	21 (1.0%)	1,094 (53.1%)	426 (20.7%)	2 (0.1%)	3 (0.1%)	138 (6.7%)	$9,205							84.8	80.5	478	94
062169002775	385	Brookside	Public	K-8	2962 Brookside Rd.	Stockton	95219	San Joaquin County	Lincoln Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 953-8641	761	33	23	49.3%	179 (23.5%)	58 (7.6%)	263 (34.6%)	193 (25.4%)	3 (0.4%)	4 (0.5%)	61 (8.0%)	$3,242							84.7	86.9	342	43
062628006931	386	Crittenden Middle	Public	6-8	1701 Rock St.	Mountain View	94043	Santa Clara County	Mountain View Whisman	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 903-6945	582	34	17.2	23.4%	147 (25.3%)	14 (2.4%)	230 (39.5%)	115 (19.8%)	1 (0.2%)	5 (0.9%)	70 (12.0%)								84.7	84.8	380	6
062250002758	387	Stanford Middle	Public	6-8	5871 East Los Arcos St.	Long Beach	90815	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 594-9793	1,157	46	25.1	41.1%	316 (27.3%)	120 (10.4%)	462 (39.9%)	147 (12.7%)	4 (0.3%)	7 (0.6%)	101 (8.7%)	$7,484							84.6	85.3	369	18
060001809108	388	Hayfork Elementary	Public	K-8	6930 State Highway 3	Hayfork	96041	Trinity County	Mountain Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 628-5294	239	11	21.7	84.5%	139 (58.2%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (5.9%)	58 (24.3%)	7 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (8.8%)	$14,445							84.4	91.4	250	138
060221314196	389	WISH Community	Public, Charter	K-8	6550 West 80th St.	Los Angeles	90045	Los Angeles County	WISH Community District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 642-9474	838	43	19.3	16.8%	272 (32.5%)	154 (18.4%)	215 (25.7%)	76 (9.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.4%)	118 (14.1%)								84.4	82.2	436	47
062865007195	390	McPherson Magnet	Public	K-8	333 South Prospect St.	Orange	92869	Orange County	Orange Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 997-6384	853	32	26.9	42.8%	215 (25.2%)	8 (0.9%)	458 (53.7%)	105 (12.3%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	62 (7.3%)	$5,766							84.2	79.6	498	108

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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

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

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