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)
061632502068	1621	Valinda School of Academics	Public	K-8	1030 Indian Summer Ave.	La Puente	91744	Los Angeles County	Hacienda la Puente Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 933-4700	512	24	21.1	71.3%	7 (1.4%)	7 (1.4%)	458 (89.5%)	22 (4.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	17 (3.3%)								35	27.8	1917	296
063375005200	1622	Giano Intermediate	Public	7-8	3223 South Giano Ave.	West Covina	91792	Los Angeles County	Rowland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 965-2461	489	26	18.9	91.0%	3 (0.6%)	8 (1.6%)	454 (92.8%)	16 (3.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	5 (1.0%)								35	33.2	1692	70
060348000265	1623	EV Cain Middle	Public	6-8	150 Palm Ave.	Auburn	95603	Placer County	Auburn Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 823-6106	524	27	19.1	45.4%	258 (49.2%)	7 (1.3%)	199 (38.0%)	11 (2.1%)	10 (1.9%)	1 (0.2%)	36 (6.9%)	$9,776							35	43.3	1368	255
063117004825	1624	Portola Junior/Senior High	Public	7-12	155 Sixth Ave.	Portola	96122	Plumas County	Plumas Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 832-4284	284	18	15.6	68.0%	169 (59.5%)	0 (0.0%)	92 (32.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (7.0%)								35	35.5	1614	10
060170812673	1625	Environmental Charter Middle - Gardena	Public, Charter	6-8	812 West 165th Pl.	Gardena	90247	Los Angeles County	Environmental Charter Middle - Gardena District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 425-1605	349	18	19.3	92.8%	5 (1.4%)	33 (9.5%)	298 (85.4%)	3 (0.9%)	2 (0.6%)	1 (0.3%)	6 (1.7%)								35	27.4	1939	314
061839002261	1626	Oak Street Elementary	Public	K-8	633 South Oak St.	Inglewood	90301	Los Angeles County	Inglewood Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 680-5340	493	19	26.5	81.1%	5 (1.0%)	38 (7.7%)	433 (87.8%)	7 (1.4%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	7 (1.4%)								35	23.9	2106	480
060408010250	1627	Wasuma Elementary	Public	K-8	43109 Hwy. 49	Ahwahnee	93601	Madera County	Bass Lake Joint Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 642-1585	287	17	16.6	50.9%	215 (74.9%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (18.1%)	4 (1.4%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (4.9%)	$10,632							34.9	50.3	1159	468
060162000020	1628	Fedde (Pharis F.) Middle	Public	7-8	21409 South Elaine Ave.	Hawaiian Gardens	90716	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 229-7805	404	21	19.5	87.9%	2 (0.5%)	15 (3.7%)	349 (86.4%)	17 (4.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	19 (4.7%)	$8,348							34.9	34.2	1658	30
060230010530	1629	ICEF View Park Preparatory Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	5311 Crenshaw Blvd.	Los Angeles	90043	Los Angeles County	ICEF View Park Preparatory Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 290-6970	271	12	21.8	97.8%	1 (0.4%)	246 (90.8%)	19 (7.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.8%)								34.9	28	1906	277
060167912510	1630	Valor Academy Middle	Public, Charter	5-8	9034 Burnet Ave.	North Hills	91343	Los Angeles County	Valor Academy Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 830-1700	510	19	27	95.5%	10 (2.0%)	5 (1.0%)	465 (91.2%)	18 (3.5%)	3 (0.6%)	2 (0.4%)	7 (1.4%)								34.9	37.3	1552	78

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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.