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)
060156008300	261	Classical Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	2950 South Bear Valley Pkwy.	Escondido	92025	San Diego County	Classical Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 546-0101	1,531	54	28.2	24.1%	837 (54.7%)	24 (1.6%)	388 (25.3%)	91 (5.9%)	3 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	186 (12.1%)								90.8	89.4	288	27
060001308257	262	Granite Oaks Middle	Public	7-8	2600 Wyckford Dr.	Rocklin	95765	Placer County	Rocklin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 315-9009	950	46	20.8	12.7%	528 (55.6%)	11 (1.2%)	147 (15.5%)	163 (17.2%)	2 (0.2%)	4 (0.4%)	95 (10.0%)	$6,369							90.7	90.8	263	1
063417012143	263	Colonel Joseph C. Rodriguez PREP Academy	Public	6-8	1985 North Guthrie St.	San Bernardino	92404	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 884-6030	739	30	24.7	86.7%	30 (4.1%)	33 (4.5%)	634 (85.8%)	19 (2.6%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.4%)	18 (2.4%)	$8,386							90.7	84.3	391	128
063513005944	264	Charlotte Wood Middle	Public	6-8	600 El Capitan Dr.	Danville	94526	Contra Costa County	San Ramon Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 855-4400	878	38	23.2	4.9%	525 (59.8%)	5 (0.6%)	98 (11.2%)	153 (17.4%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	95 (10.8%)	$6,148							90.6	91.7	246	18
060194211934	265	Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	1761 11th St.	Arcata	95521	Humboldt County	Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 822-0861	154	10	16.1	18.2%	103 (66.9%)	3 (1.9%)	11 (7.1%)	5 (3.2%)	3 (1.9%)	2 (1.3%)	26 (16.9%)								90.6	80.4	481	216
063581006119	266	Santa Rosa French-American Charter (SRFACS)	Public, Charter	K-7	1350 Sonoma Ave.	Santa Rosa	95405	Sonoma County	Santa Rosa Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 890-3930	436	23	18.9	18.8%	252 (57.8%)	21 (4.8%)	96 (22.0%)	15 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	51 (11.7%)	$7,436							90.5	96.6	105	161
060225913763	267	KIPP Heritage Academy	Public, Charter	5-8	423 Los Arboles St.	San Jose	95111	Santa Clara County	KIPP Heritage Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 283-6260	447	21	21.2	69.4%	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.6%)	231 (51.7%)	208 (46.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)								90.4	88.8	309	42
061527001954	268	Goddard Middle	Public	6-8	859 East Sierra Madre Ave.	Glendora	91741	Los Angeles County	Glendora Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 852-4500	725	29	24.8	31.9%	258 (35.6%)	4 (0.6%)	272 (37.5%)	125 (17.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	65 (9.0%)	$6,911							90.3	89	304	36
061970002375	269	Riverview Elementary	Public	K-8	8662 South Lac Jac Ave.	Parlier	93648	Fresno County	Kings Canyon Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 305-7290	437	20	22.3	67.7%	75 (17.2%)	0 (0.0%)	350 (80.1%)	5 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.6%)	$6,435							90.3	88.9	308	39
062100002522	270	Lindero Canyon Middle	Public	6-8	5844 Larboard Ln.	Agoura	91301	Los Angeles County	Las Virgenes Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 889-2134	796	36	22.2	28.6%	534 (67.1%)	13 (1.6%)	137 (17.2%)	52 (6.5%)	9 (1.1%)	1 (0.1%)	47 (5.9%)								90.2	81.8	444	174

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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

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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