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)
060162000029	1	Whitney (Gretchen) High	Public	7-12	16800 Shoemaker Ave.	Cerritos	90703	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 229-7745	1,010	39	25.8	29.8%	39 (3.9%)	19 (1.9%)	111 (11.0%)	799 (79.1%)	2 (0.2%)	3 (0.3%)	37 (3.7%)	$6,926							99.9	99.9	1
062271013971	2	Science Academy STEM Magnet	Public	6-12	5525 Vineland Ave.	North Hollywood	91601	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 753-4470	467	20	23.6	35.1%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,885							99.8	99.8	4	2
063213007422	3	North Star Academy	Public	3-8	400 Duane St.	Redwood City	94062	San Mateo County	Redwood City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 482-2411	519	19	27.2	9.4%	259 (49.9%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (12.1%)	120 (23.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	76 (14.6%)								99.7	99.8	5	2
060263007580	4	Oxford Academy	Public	7-12	5172 Orange Ave.	Cypress	90630	Orange County	Anaheim Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 220-3055	1,289	52	24.9	38.7%	83 (6.4%)	12 (0.9%)	234 (18.2%)	921 (71.5%)	8 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	30 (2.3%)	$10,961							99.7	99.8	3	1
062223007743	5	Elkhorn	Public	4-8	10505 North Davis Rd.	Stockton	95209	San Joaquin County	Lodi Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 953-8312	266	9	29.1	45.5%	44 (16.5%)	11 (4.1%)	48 (18.0%)	134 (50.4%)	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.8%)	26 (9.8%)	$10,658							99.7	99.8	6	1
061029001142	6	Joaquin Miller Middle	Public	6-8	6151 Rainbow Dr.	San Jose	95129	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 252-3755	1,078	50	21.6	12.0%	53 (4.9%)	5 (0.5%)	27 (2.5%)	921 (85.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	69 (6.4%)	$7,775							99.6	99.6	8	2
060241511442	7	Bullis Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	102 West Portola Ave.	Los Altos	94022	Santa Clara County	Bullis Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 947-4100	1,058	70	15	1.9%	192 (18.1%)	1 (0.1%)	44 (4.2%)	637 (60.2%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	181 (17.1%)								99.5	99.7	7
061029001138	8	John F. Kennedy Middle	Public	6-8	821 Bubb Rd.	Cupertino	95014	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 253-1525	930	41	22.8	12.0%	90 (9.7%)	3 (0.3%)	33 (3.5%)	746 (80.2%)	1 (0.1%)	3 (0.3%)	53 (5.7%)	$7,041							99.5	99.5	10	2
063025013937	9	Petaluma Accelerated Charter	Public, Charter	7-8	110 Ellis St.	Petaluma	94952	Sonoma County	Petaluma Joint Union High	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 778-4750	123	4	27.4	12.2%	78 (63.4%)	1 (0.8%)	12 (9.8%)	21 (17.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (8.1%)	$6,238							99.4	99.9	2	7
061440001669	10	William Hopkins Middle	Public	6-8	600 Driscoll Rd.	Fremont	94539	Alameda County	Fremont Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 656-3500	909	42	21.7	10.3%	28 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (6.6%)	792 (87.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	28 (3.1%)	$6,685							99.3	99.5	9	1

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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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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