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)
062916004498	811	Outside Creek Elementary	Public	K-8	26452 Road 164	Visalia	93292	Tulare County	Outside Creek Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 747-0710	141	5	29.3	61.0%	24 (17.0%)	0 (0.0%)	116 (82.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.7%)								63.1	26.9	1959	1148
063051010226	812	Pioneer Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	101 West Pioneer Way	Hanford	93230	Kings County	Pioneer Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 584-0112	558	23	24	40.9%	173 (31.0%)	14 (2.5%)	309 (55.4%)	36 (6.5%)	4 (0.7%)	2 (0.4%)	20 (3.6%)	$7,570							63.1	65.8	767	45
063747006331	813	South Fork Elementary	Public	K-8	5225 Kelso Valley Rd.	Weldon	93283	Kern County	South Fork Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 378-4000	340	20	16.9	77.1%	219 (64.4%)	0 (0.0%)	83 (24.4%)	2 (0.6%)	7 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (8.5%)	$13,042							63	47.6	1238	425
060219311829	814	Ventura Charter School of Arts and Global Education	Public, Charter	K-8	2060 Cameron St.	Ventura	93001	Ventura County	Ventura Charter School of Arts and Global Education District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 648-5503	449	21	21.2	29.8%	231 (51.4%)	0 (0.0%)	156 (34.7%)	10 (2.2%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (10.9%)								63	77.6	539	275
060162014664	815	ABC Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual	K-8	11939 Aclare St.	Cerritos	90703	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(562) 926-5566	67	8	8.1	73.1%	2 (3.0%)	11 (16.4%)	30 (44.8%)	12 (17.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (17.9%)								62.9			(n/a)
060174011518	816	South Sutter Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2044 Nicolaus Ave.	East Nicolaus	95659	Sutter County	South Sutter Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(800) 979-4436	2,485	107	23.2	39.1%	1,385 (55.7%)	45 (1.8%)	422 (17.0%)	84 (3.4%)	4 (0.2%)	7 (0.3%)	536 (21.6%)								62.9	63.7	803	13
063888014651	817	Tehachapi Independent Learning Academy	Public	K-8	126 South Snyder Ave.	Tehachapi	93561	Kern County	Tehachapi Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 822-2266	103	5	20.3	35.0%	51 (49.5%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (40.8%)	2 (1.9%)	1 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (6.8%)								62.9	34.7	1642	825
062136003169	818	Liberty Middle	Public	7-8	1000 Liberty Dr.	Lemoore	93245	Kings County	Lemoore Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 924-6860	676	31	21.8	79.1%	102 (15.1%)	12 (1.8%)	494 (73.1%)	33 (4.9%)	4 (0.6%)	3 (0.4%)	27 (4.0%)	$10,025							62.9	58.6	943	125
061527001956	819	Sandburg Middle	Public	6-8	819 West Bennett Ave.	Glendora	91741	Los Angeles County	Glendora Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 852-4530	682	29	23.2	42.8%	127 (18.6%)	13 (1.9%)	429 (62.9%)	69 (10.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (6.3%)	$6,633							62.8	67.8	724	95
060238114092	820	Sage Oak Charter School- Keppel	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1473 Ford St.	Redlands	92373	San Bernardino County	Sage Oak Charter School- Keppel District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(888) 345-4445	378	89	4.2	42.3%	145 (38.4%)	16 (4.2%)	169 (44.7%)	24 (6.3%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	22 (5.8%)								62.7	82.6	424	396

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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.