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)
060888000898	1181	Clear Creek Elementary	Public	K-8	17700 McCourtney Rd.	Grass Valley	95949	Nevada County	Clear Creek Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 273-3664	163	9	18.5	42.9%	108 (66.3%)	1 (0.6%)	22 (13.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (18.4%)	$11,190							49.6	67	743	438
060639011597	1182	Stonecreek Junior High	Public	7-8	8000 Akers Rd.	Bakersfield	93313	Kern County	Panama-Buena Vista Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 834-4521	1,012	53	18.9	80.1%	91 (9.0%)	69 (6.8%)	642 (63.4%)	142 (14.0%)	3 (0.3%)	5 (0.5%)	58 (5.7%)	$10,973							49.5	46.6	1269	87
063525005968	1183	Centerville Elementary	Public	K-8	48 South Smith Ave.	Sanger	93657	Fresno County	Sanger Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 524-6000	419	19	21.9	59.4%	48 (11.5%)	0 (0.0%)	360 (85.9%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.1%)	$11,224							49.4	38.5	1511	328
060006111925	1184	Riverbank Language Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	2400 Stanislaus St.	Riverbank	95367	Stanislaus County	Riverbank Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 869-8093	566	23	25.1	75.6%	30 (5.3%)	3 (0.5%)	520 (91.9%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.8%)	$9,984							49.4	39.8	1465	281
061488001843	1185	Stephen R. Fitz Intermediate	Public	7-8	4600 West McFadden Ave.	Santa Ana	92704	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6351	562	26	21.4	90.0%	10 (1.8%)	2 (0.4%)	486 (86.5%)	55 (9.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	7 (1.2%)	$12,028							49.4	42.3	1396	211
060220714250	1186	Elite Academic Academy - Lucerne	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	43414 Business Park Dr.	Temecula	92590	Riverside County	Elite Academic Academy - Lucerne District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(866) 354-8302	960	64	15	55.0%	200 (20.8%)	106 (11.0%)	515 (53.6%)	36 (3.8%)	5 (0.5%)	4 (0.4%)	91 (9.5%)								49.4	36	1593	407
063118011836	1187	Riverside Meadows Intermediate	Public	6-8	1751 Cimarron Dr.	Plumas Lake	95961	Yuba County	Plumas Lake Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 743-1271	508	27	18.7	40.9%	190 (37.4%)	35 (6.9%)	165 (32.5%)	48 (9.4%)	3 (0.6%)	4 (0.8%)	63 (12.4%)	$8,658							49.4	52.4	1098	89
063432005487	1188	John Muir Language Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	4431 Mt. Herbert Ave.	San Diego	92117	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 268-1954	277	14	19.7	43.7%	66 (23.8%)	22 (7.9%)	152 (54.9%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	35 (12.6%)	$11,800							49.4	43.4	1363	175
060146613973	1189	Girls Athletic Leadership School Los Angeles	Public, Charter	6-8	8015 Van Nuys Blvd.	Panorama City	91402	Los Angeles County	Girls Athletic Leadership School Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 389-1184	150	10	15	84.7%	6 (4.0%)	9 (6.0%)	131 (87.3%)	3 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.7%)								49.2	49.4	1187	2
060285011904	1190	Orchard Park	Public	K-8	5150 Live Oak Ave.	Oakley	94561	Contra Costa County	Antioch Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 779-7445	750	34	21.9	70.4%	128 (17.1%)	116 (15.5%)	394 (52.5%)	54 (7.2%)	3 (0.4%)	8 (1.1%)	47 (6.3%)	$6,552							49.2	52.7	1090	100

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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

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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