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)
061209001357	1261	Rio Hondo Elementary	Public	K-8	11425 Wildflower Rd.	Arcadia	91006	Los Angeles County	El Monte City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 575-2308	636	33	19.2	79.9%	16 (2.5%)	4 (0.6%)	499 (78.5%)	111 (17.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	5 (0.8%)	$7,300							46.6	55.9	1012	249
060235413904	1262	California Pacific Charter- Los Angeles	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	940 South Coast Dr. #185	Costa Mesa	92626	Orange County	California Pacific Charter- Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(855) 225-7227	428	41	10.5	67.3%	101 (23.6%)	48 (11.2%)	226 (52.8%)	19 (4.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (7.7%)								46.6	34.2	1659	397
060196614354	1263	Excelsior Charter School Corona-Norco	Public, Charter	7-12	1400 Fullerton Ave.	Corona	92879	Riverside County	Excelsior Charter School Corona-Norco District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 245-4262	132	9	15.4	43.9%	36 (27.3%)	7 (5.3%)	76 (57.6%)	3 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	8 (6.1%)								46.6	35.1	1625	362
062064002482	1264	South Tahoe Middle	Public	6-8	2940 Lake Tahoe Blvd.	South Lake Tahoe	96150	El Dorado County	Lake Tahoe Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 541-6404	765	39	19.8	53.7%	354 (46.3%)	3 (0.4%)	358 (46.8%)	26 (3.4%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (2.9%)	$11,161							46.5	43.4	1362	98
060609000544	1265	Brittan Elementary	Public	K-8	2340 Pepper St.	Sutter	95982	Sutter County	Brittan Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 822-5155	495	24	20.4	41.6%	331 (66.9%)	0 (0.0%)	116 (23.4%)	6 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (8.5%)	$9,570							46.5	34	1663	398
060236312249	1266	Great Valley Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	3200 Tully Rd.	Modesto	95350	Stanislaus County	Great Valley Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 576-2283	897	37	24.1	45.2%	261 (29.1%)	20 (2.2%)	508 (56.6%)	35 (3.9%)	3 (0.3%)	2 (0.2%)	68 (7.6%)								46.4	39.8	1466	200
062019002420	1267	Washington Middle	Public	7-8	716 East La Habra Blvd.	La Habra	90631	Orange County	La Habra City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 690-2374	548	28	19.5	83.4%	31 (5.7%)	1 (0.2%)	487 (88.9%)	18 (3.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	9 (1.6%)	$10,442							46.2	49.6	1177	90
063720010436	1268	Adele Harrison Middle	Public	6-8	1150 Broadway	Sonoma	95476	Sonoma County	Sonoma Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 935-6080	330	19	17.3	44.5%	139 (42.1%)	0 (0.0%)	180 (54.5%)	6 (1.8%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.9%)	$11,422							46.2	43.2	1369	101
060249814437	1269	The Learning Choice Academy - East County	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	4215 Spring St.	La Mesa	91941	San Diego County	The Learning Choice Academy - East County District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 463-6801	440	23	19.3	61.1%	101 (23.0%)	18 (4.1%)	283 (64.3%)	6 (1.4%)	4 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	26 (5.9%)								46.1	55.4	1022	247
061218001370	1270	STEAM Academy @ Burke	Public	6-8	8101 Orange Ave.	Pico Rivera	90660	Los Angeles County	El Rancho Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 801-7590	558	24	22.9	83.0%	6 (1.1%)	2 (0.4%)	539 (96.6%)	8 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	$3,526							46.1	53.6	1069	201

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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.