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)
060285014525	2501	Thomas Gaines Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual	K-8	4730 Sterling Hills Dr.	Antioch	94531	Contra Costa County	Antioch Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(925) 779-7640	291	19	15.2	83.5%	31 (10.7%)	85 (29.2%)	114 (39.2%)	25 (8.6%)	3 (1.0%)	17 (5.8%)	16 (5.5%)								14.2	17.7	2398	103
061692002148	2502	Acacia Middle	Public	6-8	1200 East Acacia Ave.	Hemet	92543	Riverside County	Hemet Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 765-1620	962	44	21.8	93.5%	98 (10.2%)	84 (8.7%)	740 (76.9%)	13 (1.4%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	22 (2.3%)	$8,617							14.2	13.3	2577	75
063801006436	2503	Van Buren Elementary	Public	K-8	1628 East Tenth St.	Stockton	95206	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7305	496	20	24.7	92.5%	10 (2.0%)	90 (18.1%)	335 (67.5%)	31 (6.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.2%)	22 (4.4%)	$7,363							14.2	14.2	2548	45
060193914061	2504	Arts in Action Community Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	745 South Kern Ave.	Los Angeles	90022	Los Angeles County	Arts in Action Community Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 266-4371	259	13	20.3	94.2%	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	257 (99.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)								14.2	20.1	2267	237
060204813719	2505	Grace Hopper STEM Academy	Public, Charter	6-8	601 Grace Ave.	Inglewood	90301	Los Angeles County	Grace Hopper STEM Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 910-0230	80	5	17.1	75.0%	0 (0.0%)	62 (77.5%)	15 (18.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.5%)								14	12.2	2625	120
069102108529	2506	Monterey County Home Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	901 Blanco Cir.	Salinas	93901	Monterey County	Monterey County Office of Education	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 755-0331	254	14	18	74.0%	50 (19.7%)	1 (0.4%)	195 (76.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.8%)	3 (1.2%)	3 (1.2%)	$11,038							14	36.1	1590	916
062271002966	2507	Charles Drew Middle	Public	7-8	8511 Compton Ave.	Los Angeles	90001	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 826-1700	647	37	17.6	99.8%	12 (1.9%)	108 (16.7%)	521 (80.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.8%)	$12,951							14	14.6	2529	22
061926002314	2508	Mission Middle	Public	7-8	5961 Mustang Ln.	Jurupa Valley	92509	Riverside County	Jurupa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 222-7842	634	35	18.1	91.5%	23 (3.6%)	10 (1.6%)	588 (92.7%)	5 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.1%)	$11,584							14	16.7	2441	67
062805004242	2509	Bret Harte Middle	Public	6-9	3700 Coolidge Ave.	Oakland	94602	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-2206	417	27	15.3	89.2%	23 (5.5%)	140 (33.6%)	155 (37.2%)	49 (11.8%)	1 (0.2%)	7 (1.7%)	40 (9.6%)	$9,536							13.9	17.3	2415	94
060001709100	2510	Mariana Academy	Public	K-8	10601 Manhasset Rd.	Apple Valley	92308	San Bernardino County	Apple Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 247-7258	761	30	25.2	84.5%	219 (28.8%)	42 (5.5%)	464 (61.0%)	9 (1.2%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (3.0%)	$5,505							13.9	10	2707	197

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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