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)
063504005928	781	San Pasqual Union Elementary	Public	K-8	15305 Rockwood Rd.	Escondido	92027	San Diego County	San Pasqual Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 745-4931	527	24	21.9	23.7%	270 (51.2%)	5 (0.9%)	194 (36.8%)	13 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (8.5%)	$9,721							65.3	69	698	83
060172211576	782	Richmond College Preparatory	Public, Charter	K-8	214 South 11th St.	Richmond	94804	Contra Costa County	Richmond College Preparatory District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 235-2066	554	17	32.5	78.7%	2 (0.4%)	84 (15.2%)	439 (79.2%)	9 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.9%)	15 (2.7%)								65.2	47.6	1237	455
060218208027	783	PUC Community Charter Mid and PUC Community Charter Early College High	Public, Charter	6-12	11500 Eldridge Ave.	Lake View Terrace	91342	Los Angeles County	PUC Community Charter Mid & PUC Community Charter Early Col	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 485-0951	777	36	21.5	86.9%	6 (0.8%)	7 (0.9%)	753 (96.9%)	8 (1.0%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)								65.2	54.4	1046	263
060196114103	784	Pacific Coast Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	13915 Danielson St. #103	Poway	92064	San Diego County	Pacific Coast Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(619) 749-1928	5,612	161	34.8	38.9%	2,909 (51.8%)	73 (1.3%)	1,735 (30.9%)	224 (4.0%)	25 (0.4%)	14 (0.2%)	629 (11.2%)								65.1	62.2	844	60
062745008920	785	Norris Middle	Public	7-8	6940 Calloway Dr.	Bakersfield	93312	Kern County	Norris Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 387-7060	931	38	24.7	30.2%	434 (46.6%)	22 (2.4%)	366 (39.3%)	52 (5.6%)	6 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	50 (5.4%)	$4,847							65	59.1	931	146
063618006177	786	Brook Haven Middle	Public	5-8	7905 Valentine Ave.	Sebastopol	95472	Sonoma County	Sebastopol Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 829-4590	197	12	16.9	53.8%	80 (40.6%)	2 (1.0%)	78 (39.6%)	4 (2.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (14.2%)	$11,421							64.9	64.3	789	3
063682008198	787	Fort Irwin Middle	Public	6-8	1700 Pork Chop Hill St.	Fort Irwin	92310	San Bernardino County	Silver Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 386-1133	254	14	17.5	35.4%	79 (31.1%)	40 (15.7%)	82 (32.3%)	10 (3.9%)	1 (0.4%)	19 (7.5%)	23 (9.1%)	$3,950							64.8	50.3	1158	371
061209001362	788	Wright Elementary	Public	K-8	11317 East McGirk Rd.	El Monte	91732	Los Angeles County	El Monte City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 575-2333	588	26	22.5	87.2%	5 (0.9%)	3 (0.5%)	454 (77.2%)	119 (20.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	6 (1.0%)	$7,394							64.8	71.7	645	143
063729006309	789	New Brighton Middle	Public	6-8	250 Washburn Ave.	Capitola	95010	Santa Cruz County	Soquel Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 464-5660	611	31	20	31.1%	350 (57.3%)	3 (0.5%)	206 (33.7%)	9 (1.5%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	38 (6.2%)	$8,000							64.7	71.1	665	124
061662001736	790	Salmon Creek School - A Charter	Public, Charter	2-8	1935 Bohemian Hwy.	Occidental	95465	Sonoma County	Harmony Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 874-1205	179	10	18.5	24.0%	127 (70.9%)	1 (0.6%)	26 (14.5%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (11.7%)	$15,171							64.7	85.8	359	431

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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

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.