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)
060221612790	741	Harvest Ridge Cooperative Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	9050 Old State Hwy.	Newcastle	95658	Placer County	Harvest Ridge Cooperative Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 259-1425	305	14	21.1	14.1%	234 (76.7%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (10.5%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (12.1%)								67	71.1	664	77
061470008142	742	Fruitvale Junior High	Public	7-8	2114 Calloway Dr.	Bakersfield	93312	Kern County	Fruitvale Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 589-3933	652	35	18.3	53.5%	241 (37.0%)	23 (3.5%)	328 (50.3%)	36 (5.5%)	12 (1.8%)	1 (0.2%)	11 (1.7%)	$6,000							67	70.5	675	67
062865004423	743	Cerro Villa Middle	Public	7-8	17852 East Serrano Ave.	Villa Park	92861	Orange County	Orange Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 997-6251	750	32	23.2	58.8%	177 (23.6%)	7 (0.9%)	432 (57.6%)	90 (12.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	42 (5.6%)	$4,786							67	67.5	734	9
062250002726	744	Hughes Middle	Public	6-8	3846 California Ave.	Long Beach	90807	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 595-0831	1,295	50	25.9	49.0%	105 (8.1%)	237 (18.3%)	609 (47.0%)	223 (17.2%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (1.3%)	104 (8.0%)	$6,646							66.9	61.3	865	121
060177000045	745	Encinal Junior/Senior High	Public	6-12	210 Central Ave.	Alameda	94501	Alameda County	Alameda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 748-4023	1,158	52	22.3	47.1%	290 (25.0%)	121 (10.4%)	227 (19.6%)	354 (30.6%)	3 (0.3%)	20 (1.7%)	134 (11.6%)	$16,031							66.9	71.5	651	94
063765006379	746	Southside Elementary	Public	K-8	4991 Southside Rd.	Hollister	95023	San Benito County	Southside Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 637-4439	233	10	23.1	42.1%	87 (37.3%)	1 (0.4%)	141 (60.5%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.9%)	$7,894							66.8	71.2	657	89
061185001315	747	Hillview Middle	Public	6-8	10931 South Stamy Rd.	Whittier	90604	Los Angeles County	East Whittier City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 789-2000	580	32	18.2	79.8%	31 (5.3%)	7 (1.2%)	514 (88.6%)	13 (2.2%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	11 (1.9%)								66.7	58.2	961	214
062577013806	748	Latimer	Public	K-8	4250 Latimer Ave.	San Jose	95130	Santa Clara County	Moreland	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 874-3600	492	25	19.8	43.3%	100 (20.3%)	17 (3.5%)	209 (42.5%)	116 (23.6%)	2 (0.4%)	7 (1.4%)	40 (8.1%)	$5,700							66.7	68.8	702	46
060003701550	749	Ferndale Elementary	Public	K-8	164 Shaw Ave.	Ferndale	95536	Humboldt County	Ferndale Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 786-5300	344	19	18.5	48.5%	243 (70.6%)	2 (0.6%)	71 (20.6%)	2 (0.6%)	19 (5.5%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (2.0%)	$11,978							66.7	52.9	1085	336
063867001828	750	Elizabeth Ustach Middle	Public	6-8	2701 Kodiak Dr.	Modesto	95355	Stanislaus County	Sylvan Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 552-3000	1,008	49	20.7	51.3%	280 (27.8%)	20 (2.0%)	482 (47.8%)	137 (13.6%)	2 (0.2%)	13 (1.3%)	74 (7.3%)								66.7	68.3	710	40

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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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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