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)
061281001441	1191	Mistletoe Elementary	Public	K-8	1225 Mistletoe Ln.	Redding	96002	Shasta County	Enterprise Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 224-4160	644	28	22.8	68.8%	351 (54.5%)	9 (1.4%)	132 (20.5%)	52 (8.1%)	25 (3.9%)	0 (0.0%)	75 (11.6%)	$6,434							49.1	54.9	1032	159
062205002614	1192	Live Oak Middle	Public	6-8	2082 Pennington Rd.	Live Oak	95953	Sutter County	Live Oak Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 695-5435	389	22	17.5	74.8%	82 (21.1%)	2 (0.5%)	238 (61.2%)	60 (15.4%)	3 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	$6,187							49	49.8	1171	21
062553012851	1193	Monte Vista	Public	K-8	100 Toda Vista Dr.	Monterey	93940	Monterey County	Monterey Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 392-3890	572	27	21.3	39.7%	261 (45.6%)	17 (3.0%)	227 (39.7%)	27 (4.7%)	2 (0.3%)	6 (1.0%)	32 (5.6%)	$5,948							49	48.9	1196	3
060231413849	1194	River Charter Schools Lighthouse Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	899 Bryte Ave.	West Sacramento	95605	Yolo County	River Charter Schools Lighthouse Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 744-1212	369	23	15.7	50.1%	83 (22.5%)	13 (3.5%)	172 (46.6%)	27 (7.3%)	2 (0.5%)	4 (1.1%)	68 (18.4%)								48.9	47	1256	62
062394003603	1195	Mariposa Elementary	Public	K-8	5044 Jones St.	Mariposa	95338	Mariposa County	Mariposa County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 742-0340	368	14	26.2	76.1%	218 (59.2%)	4 (1.1%)	87 (23.6%)	4 (1.1%)	12 (3.3%)	1 (0.3%)	42 (11.4%)	$5,881							48.9	40.5	1439	244
060197414221	1196	Vox Collegiate of Los Angeles	Public, Charter	6-10	1100 West Manchester Ave.	Los Angeles	90044	Los Angeles County	Vox Collegiate of Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 902-7133	182	7	26.1	96.2%	1 (0.5%)	32 (17.6%)	149 (81.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								48.9	38.4	1517	321
063531007862	1197	Douglas MacArthur Fundamental Intermediate	Public	6-8	600 West Alton Ave.	Santa Ana	92707	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 513-9800	1,145	47	24.1	66.1%	17 (1.5%)	2 (0.2%)	1,036 (90.5%)	66 (5.8%)	3 (0.3%)	5 (0.4%)	14 (1.2%)	$6,737							48.9	44.1	1340	143
060001609090	1198	Foothill Knolls Academy of Innovation	Public	K-8	1245 Veterans Ct.	Upland	91786	San Bernardino County	Upland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 949-7740	568	22	25.5	68.7%	113 (19.9%)	33 (5.8%)	360 (63.4%)	26 (4.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (6.0%)	$11,429							48.8	48.1	1222	24
063240005000	1199	Richfield Elementary	Public	K-8	23875 River Rd.	Corning	96021	Tehama County	Richfield Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 824-3354	238	10	23.8	42.0%	114 (47.9%)	0 (0.0%)	114 (47.9%)	5 (2.1%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.7%)	$8,046							48.7	57.2	982	217
061005001104	1200	Sierra Vista Middle	Public	6-8	777 East Puente St.	Covina	91723	Los Angeles County	Covina-Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 974-7300	770	33	23.5	64.0%	65 (8.4%)	24 (3.1%)	592 (76.9%)	71 (9.2%)	5 (0.6%)	4 (0.5%)	8 (1.0%)	$7,309							48.6	50.2	1161	39

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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

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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