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)
060011614261	851	Hillside Elementary	Public	K-8	800 Treasure Hills Dr.	Madera	93636	Madera County	Chawanakee Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 822-4141	258	14	18.6	31.0%	105 (40.7%)	4 (1.6%)	103 (39.9%)	19 (7.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (10.5%)								61.3	53.1	1080	229
062271002987	852	Emerson Community Charter	Public, Charter	6-8	1650 Selby Ave.	Los Angeles	90024	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 234-3100	516	24	21.3	50.0%	143 (27.7%)	70 (13.6%)	225 (43.6%)	28 (5.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (9.5%)	$10,340							61.3	63.7	800	52
062637003979	853	Valley View Middle	Public	6-8	181 Viking Dr.	Pleasant Hill	94523	Contra Costa County	Mt. Diablo Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 686-6136	785	35	22.6	31.0%	241 (30.7%)	27 (3.4%)	272 (34.6%)	104 (13.2%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.5%)	136 (17.3%)	$11,809							61.2	58.9	938	85
061187001327	854	Lee Vining Elementary	Public	K-8	132 Lee Vining Ave.	Lee Vining	93541	Mono County	Eastern Sierra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 647-6460	96	6	16.9	47.9%	48 (50.0%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (50.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								61.2			(n/a)
060252114432	855	Compass Charter School of Yolo	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	850 Hampshire Rd. Ste. R	Thousand Oaks	91361	Ventura County	Compass Charter School of Yolo District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(855) 937-4227	706	28	25	39.4%	417 (59.1%)	11 (1.6%)	159 (22.5%)	24 (3.4%)	5 (0.7%)	2 (0.3%)	83 (11.8%)								61.2	65.3	775	80
060195414341	856	Dual Language Immersion North County	Public, Charter	K-8	2030 University Dr.	Vista	92803	Orange County	Dual Language Immersion North County District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 631-6200	270	13	20.7	41.5%	54 (20.0%)	5 (1.9%)	183 (67.8%)	8 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (7.4%)								61.2	60.4	890	34
060154412705	857	KIPP Comienza Community Prep	Public, Charter	K-8	6410 Rita Ave.	Huntington Park	90255	Los Angeles County	KIPP Comienza Community Prep District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 886-2355	1,058	46	23	94.9%	3 (0.3%)	14 (1.3%)	1,032 (97.5%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (0.6%)								61.2	54.7	1037	180
063093014123	858	Arete Charter Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter	K-8	16229 Duggans Rd.	Grass Valley	95949	Nevada County	Pleasant Ridge Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(530) 268-2805	239	10	22.9	28.9%	183 (76.6%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (14.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (9.2%)	$12,512							61.1	38	1529	671
060182211984	859	Antioch Charter Academy II	Public, Charter	K-8	1201 West Tenth St.	Antioch	94509	Contra Costa County	Antioch Charter Academy II District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 755-1252	200	10	21	44.5%	54 (27.0%)	18 (9.0%)	90 (45.0%)	9 (4.5%)	3 (1.5%)	4 (2.0%)	22 (11.0%)								61.1	63.7	805	54
060252414444	860	Cottonwood	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	3921 Sandstone Drive Ste. A	El Dorado Hills	95762	El Dorado County	Cottonwood District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(530) 285-2003	3,099	114	27.2	52.0%	2,158 (69.6%)	55 (1.8%)	483 (15.6%)	89 (2.9%)	7 (0.2%)	3 (0.1%)	298 (9.6%)								61	57.9	965	105

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.