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)
063255005034	2711	Helms Middle	Public	7-8	2500 Road 20	San Pablo	94806	Contra Costa County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 233-3988	579	26	22.2	96.0%	6 (1.0%)	35 (6.0%)	491 (84.8%)	38 (6.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	8 (1.4%)	$6,174							8	7.8	2748	37
060179614368	2712	SAVA - Sacramento Academic and Vocational Academy - EGUSD	Public, Charter	7-12	3141 Dwight Rd. Ste. 400	Elk Grove	95758	Sacramento County	SAVA - Sacramento Academy and Vocational Academy - EGUSD Di	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 428-3200	372	22	16.8	70.7%	29 (7.8%)	50 (13.4%)	198 (53.2%)	18 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.3%)	68 (18.3%)								8	8.4	2738	26
062949004540	2713	E. A. Hall Middle	Public	6-8	201 Brewington Ave.	Watsonville	95076	Santa Cruz County	Pajaro Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 728-6270	556	24	22.9	96.2%	11 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	539 (96.9%)	5 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)								7.8	8.2	2741	28
060133207729	2714	Martin Luther King Junior Technology Academy	Public	7-8	3051 Fairfield St.	Sacramento	95815	Sacramento County	Twin Rivers Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 566-3490	514	25	20.9	96.7%	41 (8.0%)	92 (17.9%)	215 (41.8%)	116 (22.6%)	3 (0.6%)	9 (1.8%)	35 (6.8%)								7.8	8.4	2740	26
063697214284	2715	Goodwill Independent Study	Public	7-12	16350 Mojave Dr.	Victorville	92395	San Bernardino County	Victor Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 955-3440	180	6	29.4	83.9%	4 (2.2%)	56 (31.1%)	109 (60.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	10 (5.6%)								7.8	7.5	2755	40
062088002512	2716	Piute Middle	Public	6-8	425 East Avenue H-11	Lancaster	93535	Los Angeles County	Lancaster Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 942-9508	767	40	19.3	90.9%	253 (33.0%)	240 (31.3%)	216 (28.2%)	14 (1.8%)	14 (1.8%)	3 (0.4%)	27 (3.5%)	$8,529							7.7	7.7	2751	35
060150014202	2717	Options for Youth-Acton	Public, Charter	7-12	17216 Slover Ave. Ste. L-102	Fontana	92337	San Bernardino County	Options for Youth-Acton District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 429-0482	2,182	58	37.3	83.6%	251 (11.5%)	119 (5.5%)	1,627 (74.6%)	28 (1.3%)	13 (0.6%)	3 (0.1%)	119 (5.5%)								7.7	9.4	2718	1
063186014095	2718	Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle	Public	6-8	2450 Ralmar St.	East Palo Alto	94303	Santa Clara County	Ravenswood City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 329-2828	482	29	16.3	76.1%	5 (1.0%)	29 (6.0%)	382 (79.3%)	4 (0.8%)	2 (0.4%)	52 (10.8%)	8 (1.7%)	$8,632							7.6	8.6	2733	15
063531010265	2719	Pio Pico Elementary	Public	K-7	931 West Highland	Santa Ana	92703	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 972-7500	447	22	20.3	89.3%	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	442 (98.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$7,941							7.5			(n/a)
060001709272	2720	Sandia Elementary	Public	K-8	21331 Sandia Rd.	Apple Valley	92308	San Bernardino County	Apple Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 240-5125	884	36	24.4	87.8%	177 (20.0%)	74 (8.4%)	581 (65.7%)	6 (0.7%)	3 (0.3%)	5 (0.6%)	38 (4.3%)	$5,173							7.4	7	2764	44

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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:

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

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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