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)
060962000984	651	Kelly Elementary	Public	K-8	2320 East Alondra Blvd.	Compton	90221	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 898-6410	743	28	26.7	63.0%	1 (0.1%)	67 (9.0%)	668 (89.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	5 (0.7%)								72	56.4	1004	353
062682004062	652	Seven Hills Intermediate	Public	4-8	700 Hoover Ln.	Nevada City	95959	Nevada County	Nevada City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 265-1840	399	20	20	33.6%	328 (82.2%)	3 (0.8%)	33 (8.3%)	5 (1.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (7.3%)	$3,081							72	67.7	727	75
064119012147	653	Vista Magnet Middle School of Technology Science and Math	Public	6-8	151 Civic Center Dr.	Vista	92084	San Diego County	Vista Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 726-5766	819	43	19	65.7%	164 (20.0%)	5 (0.6%)	581 (70.9%)	30 (3.7%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	35 (4.3%)	$7,854							71.9	73.8	603	50
060199912818	654	Three Rivers Charter	Public, Charter	1-8	1211 Del Mar Dr. #301	Fort Bragg	95437	Mendocino County	Three Rivers Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 964-1128	82	4	20.5	67.1%	54 (65.9%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (26.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (7.3%)								71.9	51.6	1119	465
060015310935	655	Emery Park Elementary	Public	K-8	2821 West Commonwealth Ave.	Alhambra	91803	Los Angeles County	Alhambra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 943-3340	372	19	19.2	49.7%	20 (5.4%)	3 (0.8%)	268 (72.0%)	64 (17.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (4.6%)	$11,844							71.8	70.7	671	16
063315005006	656	Amelia Earhart Middle	Public	7-8	20202 Aptos St.	Riverside	92508	Riverside County	Riverside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 697-5700	798	31	25.8	50.5%	256 (32.1%)	61 (7.6%)	359 (45.0%)	75 (9.4%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.5%)	42 (5.3%)	$8,246							71.8	73.7	605	51
063588006143	657	PRIDE Academy at Prospect Avenue	Public	K-8	9303 Prospect Ave.	Santee	92071	San Diego County	Santee	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 956-5200	564	23	24.7	49.3%	222 (39.4%)	14 (2.5%)	233 (41.3%)	33 (5.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	61 (10.8%)	$9,103							71.8	74.9	583	74
061488001856	658	Dr. Walter C. Ralston Intermediate	Public	7-8	10851 East Lampson Ave.	Garden Grove	92840	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6366	552	23	24.3	82.2%	23 (4.2%)	2 (0.4%)	305 (55.3%)	205 (37.1%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.9%)	12 (2.2%)	$12,382							71.7	72.4	632	26
063375005215	659	Ybarra Academy for the Arts and Technology	Public	K-8	1300 South Brea Canyon Cutoff	Walnut	91789	Los Angeles County	Rowland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 598-3744	596	29	20.7	67.1%	26 (4.4%)	13 (2.2%)	350 (58.7%)	189 (31.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (3.0%)								71.7	73	622	37
060174311860	660	Sky Mountain Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	4535 Missouri Flat Rd. Ste. 1A	Placerville	95667	El Dorado County	Sky Mountain Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(800) 976-4436	2,138	91	23.5	34.9%	718 (33.6%)	84 (3.9%)	764 (35.7%)	134 (6.3%)	4 (0.2%)	1 (0.0%)	433 (20.3%)								71.6	73.1	616	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

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.