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)
063366005192	21	Ross Elementary	Public	K-8	9 Lagunitas Rd.	Ross	94957	Marin County	Ross Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 457-2705	353	26	13.5	0.8%	279 (79.0%)	1 (0.3%)	20 (5.7%)	7 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (12.5%)	$19,411							98.9	97.5	80	59
060201312901	22	Yu Ming Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	2501 Chestnut St.	Oakland	94607	Alameda County	Yu Ming Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 452-2063	865	44	19.7	31.6%	57 (6.6%)	69 (8.0%)	70 (8.1%)	472 (54.6%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	195 (22.5%)								98.9	99.4	12	10
068450007070	23	Vista Verde	Public	K-8	6 Federation Way	Irvine	92603	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6350	798	30	26.1	9.8%	339 (42.5%)	3 (0.4%)	78 (9.8%)	288 (36.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	89 (11.2%)	$6,140							98.7	98.7	26	3
063513010759	24	Windemere Ranch Middle	Public	6-8	11611 East Branch Pkwy.	San Ramon	94582	Contra Costa County	San Ramon Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 479-7400	1,074	42	25.5	5.7%	61 (5.7%)	18 (1.7%)	36 (3.4%)	905 (84.3%)	4 (0.4%)	5 (0.5%)	45 (4.2%)	$5,818							98.7	98.8	25	1
063438013861	25	Pacific Trails Middle	Public	7-8	5975 Village Center Loop Rd.	San Diego	92130	San Diego County	San Dieguito Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 350-0253	980	40	24.4	10.9%	348 (35.5%)	7 (0.7%)	91 (9.3%)	446 (45.5%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	86 (8.8%)	$5,633							98.6	98.8	23	2
062886004472	26	Orinda Intermediate	Public	6-8	80 Ivy Dr.	Orinda	94563	Contra Costa County	Orinda Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 258-3090	820	45	18	2.7%	445 (54.3%)	7 (0.9%)	69 (8.4%)	167 (20.4%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	129 (15.7%)	$8,046							98.6	98.7	29	3
060255214522	27	Irvine International Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	4782 Karen Ann Ln.	Irvine	92604	Orange County	Irvine International Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 242-6164	372	20	18.6	22.6%	66 (17.7%)	4 (1.1%)	15 (4.0%)	258 (69.4%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	27 (7.3%)								98.6			(n/a)
064032006680	28	Union Middle	Public	6-8	2130 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd.	San Jose	95124	Santa Clara County	Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 371-0366	1,052	46	22.9	6.8%	422 (40.1%)	6 (0.6%)	120 (11.4%)	409 (38.9%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	93 (8.8%)	$7,779							98.6	98.2	45	17
060002009289	29	Harvest Park Middle	Public	6-8	4900 Valley Ave.	Pleasanton	94566	Alameda County	Pleasanton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 426-4444	1,051	45	23.1	6.2%	281 (26.7%)	11 (1.0%)	48 (4.6%)	639 (60.8%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	69 (6.6%)	$6,293							98.5	97.8	61	32
062265002786	30	Ardis G. Egan Junior High	Public	7-8	100 West Portola Ave.	Los Altos	94022	Santa Clara County	Los Altos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 917-2200	496	27	18.5	9.7%	181 (36.5%)	3 (0.6%)	65 (13.1%)	193 (38.9%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	50 (10.1%)	$14,754							98.5	98.7	32	2

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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