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)
062271003215	1431	Florence Nightingale Middle	Public	6-8	3311 North Figueroa St.	Los Angeles	90065	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 224-4800	790	46	17.3	93.0%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$11,694							40.8	38.1	1525	94
061233007234	1432	T. R. Smedberg Middle	Public	7-8	8239 Kingsbridge Dr.	Sacramento	95829	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 681-7525	1,026	46	22.3	48.7%	102 (9.9%)	99 (9.6%)	277 (27.0%)	419 (40.8%)	12 (1.2%)	13 (1.3%)	104 (10.1%)	$6,641							40.7	38.5	1509	77
064212006890	1433	Joe Walker Middle	Public	6-8	5632 West Ave. L-8	Lancaster	93536	Los Angeles County	Westside Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 943-3258	736	31	23.6	59.5%	245 (33.3%)	66 (9.0%)	356 (48.4%)	24 (3.3%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	42 (5.7%)	$9,579							40.7	47.8	1227	206
061839002257	1434	La Tijera K-8 Academy of Excellence Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	1415 North La Tijera Blvd.	Inglewood	90302	Los Angeles County	Inglewood Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 680-5260	604	27	22	70.5%	0 (0.0%)	352 (58.3%)	215 (35.6%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	32 (5.3%)								40.7	30.1	1814	380
060173003557	1435	Horizon Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	873 First St.	Lincoln	95648	Placer County	Horizon Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 408-5200	1,508	71	21.3	53.5%	781 (51.8%)	71 (4.7%)	379 (25.1%)	57 (3.8%)	3 (0.2%)	2 (0.1%)	211 (14.0%)								40.7	47.9	1226	209
062994012340	1436	CIS Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	2925 East Siera Madre Blvd.	Pasadena	91107	Los Angeles County	Pasadena Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(626) 396-5883	253	17	15.2	83.4%	35 (13.8%)	35 (13.8%)	163 (64.4%)	4 (1.6%)	2 (0.8%)	2 (0.8%)	10 (4.0%)	$10,409							40.6			(n/a)
060185110983	1437	California Connections Academy Southern California	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	33272 Valle Rd.	San Juan Capistrano	92675	Orange County	California Connections Academy Southern California District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(949) 461-1667	5,141	171	30.1	51.2%	1,332 (25.9%)	457 (8.9%)	2,266 (44.1%)	257 (5.0%)	15 (0.3%)	13 (0.3%)	770 (15.0%)								40.5	46.7	1263	174
063315005138	1438	Matthew Gage Middle	Public	7-8	6400 Lincoln Ave.	Riverside	92506	Riverside County	Riverside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 788-7350	885	40	22.3	70.1%	184 (20.8%)	48 (5.4%)	609 (68.8%)	23 (2.6%)	4 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	15 (1.7%)	$8,148							40.5	48.7	1206	232
060819005854	1439	Oak Knoll Alternative	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1505 South Sunflower Ave.	Glendora	91740	Los Angeles County	Charter Oak Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(626) 852-7972	145	5	26.6	51.7%	34 (23.4%)	7 (4.8%)	90 (62.1%)	9 (6.2%)	1 (0.7%)	1 (0.7%)	3 (2.1%)	$16,035							40.4	46.2	1283	156
063462005775	1440	Thomas Edison Language Institute K-8	Public	K-8	2950 Hurley Way	Sacramento	95864	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 979-8960	816	36	22.9	70.7%	163 (20.0%)	96 (11.8%)	398 (48.8%)	105 (12.9%)	7 (0.9%)	4 (0.5%)	41 (5.0%)	$7,595							40.4	22.7	2150	710

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.