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)
060798000766	2491	Central Elementary	Public	K-8	15783 18th Ave.	Lemoore	93245	Kings County	Central Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 924-7797	250	13	19.2	57.6%	15 (6.0%)	1 (0.4%)	150 (60.0%)	0 (0.0%)	64 (25.6%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (8.0%)	$2,993,505							14.3	20.6	2239	252
060213813852	2492	ACE Inspire Academy	Public, Charter	5-8	1155 East Julian St.	San Jose	95112	Santa Clara County	ACE Inspire Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 295-6008	239	9	27.6	80.8%	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	224 (93.7%)	8 (3.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.8%)	3 (1.3%)								14.3	27.1	1949	543
063255005017	2493	Betty Reid Soskin Middle	Public	6-8	1121 Allview Ave.	El Sobrante	94803	Contra Costa County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 231-1447	401	21	19.2	48.4%	46 (11.5%)	80 (20.0%)	184 (45.9%)	68 (17.0%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.5%)	20 (5.0%)	$8,187							14.3	11.1	2668	175
063697206779	2494	Imogene Garner Hook Junior High	Public	7-8	15000 Hook Blvd.	Victorville	92394	San Bernardino County	Victor Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 955-3360	1,000	41	24.1	75.9%	47 (4.7%)	208 (20.8%)	679 (67.9%)	8 (0.8%)	3 (0.3%)	5 (0.5%)	49 (4.9%)	$5,880							14.3	11.9	2630	136
060180112244	2495	Aspire Langston Hughes Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	2050 West Ln.	Stockton	95205	San Joaquin County	Aspire Langston Hughes Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 943-2389	770	27	29	65.8%	30 (3.9%)	121 (15.7%)	495 (64.3%)	57 (7.4%)	5 (0.6%)	4 (0.5%)	58 (7.5%)								14.3	17	2431	64
060001112763	2496	Mt. Lassen Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	100 David S Hall St.	Herlong	96113	Lassen County	Fort Sage Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 827-2129	147	6	23.6	63.3%	111 (75.5%)	1 (0.7%)	19 (12.9%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (6.1%)	$6,415							14.3			(n/a)
060939008126	2497	Washington High	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	900 East C St.	Colton	92324	San Bernardino County	Colton Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(909) 580-5011	242	28	8.5	74.0%	9 (3.7%)	22 (9.1%)	206 (85.1%)	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.8%)	$39,813							14.3	14.3	2540	43
060363000318	2498	Sierra Middle	Public	6-8	3017 Center St.	Bakersfield	93306	Kern County	Bakersfield City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 631-5470	738	32	23.1	89.4%	17 (2.3%)	25 (3.4%)	680 (92.1%)	2 (0.3%)	6 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.1%)	$7,233							14.3	11.7	2637	139
060384003574	2499	Nicolet Middle	Public	6-8	101 East Nicolet St.	Banning	92220	Riverside County	Banning Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 922-0280	975	46	21.4	89.6%	82 (8.4%)	72 (7.4%)	711 (72.9%)	56 (5.7%)	25 (2.6%)	1 (0.1%)	26 (2.7%)	$4,765							14.2	13.1	2589	90
063801006429	2500	Pulliam Elementary	Public	K-8	230 Presidio Way	Stockton	95207	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7265	642	26	24.6	79.0%	31 (4.8%)	138 (21.5%)	274 (42.7%)	151 (23.5%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (0.9%)	40 (6.2%)	$7,960							14.2	19.3	2308	192

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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.