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)
060645000571	771	Luther Burbank Middle	Public	6-8	3700 West Jeffries Ave.	Burbank	91505	Los Angeles County	Burbank Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 729-3700	849	37	22.7	31.2%	276 (32.5%)	17 (2.0%)	403 (47.5%)	77 (9.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	73 (8.6%)	$12,359							65.8	69.8	685	86
060444013706	772	Las Flores Home Education Independent Study Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	10039 East Palm St.	Bellflower	90706	Los Angeles County	Bellflower Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(562) 804-6565	273	12	22.3	69.6%	26 (9.5%)	37 (13.6%)	167 (61.2%)	20 (7.3%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (7.7%)	$10,427							65.7	57.5	973	201
060933000942	773	Santa Ynez Elementary	Public	1-8	3325 Pine St.	Santa Ynez	93460	Santa Barbara County	College Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 686-7310	172	10	16.4	53.5%	59 (34.3%)	1 (0.6%)	98 (57.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (4.1%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (4.1%)	$26,211							65.7	53.7	1066	293
062622007789	774	Grace Yokley Junior High	Public	7-8	2947 South Turner Ave.	Ontario	91761	San Bernardino County	Mountain View Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 947-6774	636	30	20.9	53.6%	55 (8.6%)	61 (9.6%)	429 (67.5%)	69 (10.8%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	20 (3.1%)	$7,840							65.7	61.8	854	80
062825004366	775	North Terrace Elementary	Public	K-8	141 Santa Rosa Dr.	Oceanside	92058	San Diego County	Oceanside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 901-7500	766	31	24.6	61.5%	283 (36.9%)	40 (5.2%)	310 (40.5%)	23 (3.0%)	3 (0.4%)	13 (1.7%)	94 (12.3%)	$12,250							65.6	68.7	703	72
060184311953	776	CORE Butte Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2847 Notre Dame Blvd.	Chico	95928	Butte County	CORE Butte Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 894-3952	848	52	16.4	45.6%	596 (70.3%)	9 (1.1%)	153 (18.0%)	14 (1.7%)	3 (0.4%)	2 (0.2%)	69 (8.1%)								65.6	59.6	922	146
063348008495	777	Freedom Middle	Public	7-8	11445 Noriega Rd.	Bakersfield	93312	Kern County	Rosedale Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 588-6044	698	32	21.8	32.2%	328 (47.0%)	21 (3.0%)	287 (41.1%)	33 (4.7%)	3 (0.4%)	2 (0.3%)	22 (3.2%)	$10,028							65.6	71	668	109
064020007475	778	Twain Harte	Public	K-8	18815 Manzanita Dr.	Twain Harte	95383	Tuolumne County	Twain Harte	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 586-3266	254	13	20.3	55.9%	181 (71.3%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (22.0%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	3 (1.2%)	12 (4.7%)	$19,038							65.3	62.3	841	63
060183513857	779	Alliance Marine - Innovation and Technology 6-12 Complex	Public, Charter	6-12	11933 Allegheny St.	Sun Valley	91352	Los Angeles County	Alliance Marine - Innovation and Technical 6-12 Complex Dis	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(747) 223-2649	1,013	46	21.8	92.3%	17 (1.7%)	14 (1.4%)	945 (93.3%)	25 (2.5%)	4 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	7 (0.7%)								65.3	64.6	783	4
060453000418	780	Nesbit Elementary	Public	K-8	500 Biddulph Way	Belmont	94002	San Mateo County	Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 637-4860	608	29	20.7	17.4%	144 (23.7%)	12 (2.0%)	178 (29.3%)	161 (26.5%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (2.8%)	96 (15.8%)	$12,333							65.3	78.8	518	262

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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

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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.