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)
060231000107	2441	O. S. Hubbard Elementary	Public	K-8	1680 Foley Ave.	San Jose	95122	Santa Clara County	Alum Rock Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 928-7700	453	20	22.4	79.2%	3 (0.7%)	9 (2.0%)	397 (87.6%)	28 (6.2%)	5 (1.1%)	4 (0.9%)	7 (1.5%)	$13,466							15.7	20.6	2237	204
060133902076	2442	Hamilton Elementary	Public	K-8	277 Capay Ave.	Hamilton City	95951	Glenn County	Hamilton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 826-3474	405	21	19.5	93.6%	8 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	379 (93.6%)	8 (2.0%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.0%)	$9,797							15.7	11	2676	234
063441005629	2443	Lick (James) Middle	Public	6-8	1220 Noe St.	San Francisco	94114	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 695-5675	476	29	16.4	59.9%	40 (8.4%)	39 (8.2%)	335 (70.4%)	14 (2.9%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.8%)	42 (8.8%)	$6,103							15.7	17	2432	11
062271012483	2444	Sal Castro Middle	Public	6-8	1575 West 2nd St.	Los Angeles	90026	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 241-4416	311	20	15.8	97.7%	2 (0.6%)	16 (5.1%)	288 (92.6%)	4 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	$11,094							15.7	19.8	2284	160
060180412982	2445	Extera Public	Public, Charter	K-8	2226 East Third St.	Los Angeles	90033	Los Angeles County	Extera Public District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 780-8300	298	16	18.1	94.6%	15 (5.0%)	4 (1.3%)	277 (93.0%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								15.6	11.8	2636	191
060182912427	2446	Big Picture Educational Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1207 South Trinity St.	Fresno	93706	Fresno County	Big Picture Educational Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 420-1234	550	23	24.2	60.7%	46 (8.4%)	77 (14.0%)	394 (71.6%)	7 (1.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (4.0%)								15.6	26.5	1973	473
062619008913	2447	Twin Lakes Elementary	Public	2-8	3900 Gilman Rd.	El Monte	91732	Los Angeles County	Mountain View Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 652-4400	576	32	18	68.4%	5 (0.9%)	5 (0.9%)	519 (90.1%)	45 (7.8%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)								15.6	25.6	2018	429
061944010238	2448	Daisy Gibson Elementary	Public	K-8	9650 East Palmdale Blvd.	Palmdale	93591	Los Angeles County	Keppel Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 944-6590	641	24	26.7	86.9%	19 (3.0%)	19 (3.0%)	598 (93.3%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)								15.6	20.3	2256	192
062271003029	2449	Robert Fulton College Preparatory	Public	6-12	7477 Kester Ave.	Van Nuys	91405	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 947-2100	1,258	67	18.8	93.5%	47 (3.7%)	37 (2.9%)	1,102 (87.6%)	62 (4.9%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	8 (0.6%)	$10,814							15.6	13.8	2565	116
060218011207	2450	School of Arts and Enterprise	Public, Charter	6-12	295 North Garey Ave.	Pomona	91768	Los Angeles County	School of Arts and Enterprise District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 622-0699	667	37	17.8	51.4%	48 (7.2%)	25 (3.7%)	547 (82.0%)	12 (1.8%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (4.9%)								15.6	20.2	2260	190

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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

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.