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)
062025002432	311	La Mesa Arts Academy	Public	4-8	4200 Parks Ave.	La Mesa	91942	San Diego County	La Mesa-Spring Valley	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 668-5730	1,052	44	24	40.9%	454 (43.2%)	44 (4.2%)	381 (36.2%)	44 (4.2%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	124 (11.8%)	$6,138							88.3	85.4	366	55
060192214287	312	Redwood Coast Montessori	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1611 Peninsula Dr.	Eureka	95521	Humboldt County	Redwood Coast Montessori District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 832-4194	181	17	10.6	39.8%	135 (74.6%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (6.6%)	5 (2.8%)	4 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (12.2%)								88.3	76.6	553	241
060964001015	313	Los Cerritos Middle	Public	6-8	2100 Avenida de las Flores	Thousand Oaks	91362	Ventura County	Conejo Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 492-3538	736	36	20.4	21.5%	336 (45.7%)	6 (0.8%)	259 (35.2%)	81 (11.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	48 (6.5%)	$8,363							88.3	90.5	271	42
060162000027	314	Tetzlaff (Martin B.) Middle	Public	7-8	12351 East Del Amo Blvd.	Cerritos	90703	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 229-7795	534	26	20.9	56.7%	34 (6.4%)	58 (10.9%)	237 (44.4%)	181 (33.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	22 (4.1%)	$6,057							88.2	82.8	416	102
062271003289	315	Gaspar De Portola Charter Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	18720 Linnet St.	Tarzana	91356	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 654-3300	1,441	61	23.4	50.8%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,757							88.2	87.3	334	19
063384005283	316	Miwok Middle	Public	7-8	3150 I St.	Sacramento	95816	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-5370	1,075	43	24.7	40.0%	372 (34.6%)	49 (4.6%)	338 (31.4%)	162 (15.1%)	3 (0.3%)	5 (0.5%)	146 (13.6%)	$7,330							88.2	88.9	306	10
060256511992	317	Yuba River Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	10085 Adam Ave.	Grass Valley	95945	Nevada County	Yuba River Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 272-6060	315	14	22.1	46.3%	247 (78.4%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (9.2%)	4 (1.3%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	33 (10.5%)								88.1	74.8	587	270
060159111792	318	Discovery Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	4021 Teale Ave.	San Jose	95117	Santa Clara County	Discovery Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 243-9800	535	23	23.2	10.1%	158 (29.5%)	44 (8.2%)	66 (12.3%)	201 (37.6%)	5 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	61 (11.4%)								88.1	93.1	204	114
060714000654	319	Price Charter Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	2650 New Jersey Ave.	San Jose	95124	Santa Clara County	Cambrian	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 377-2532	870	40	21.9	17.9%	322 (37.0%)	20 (2.3%)	271 (31.1%)	159 (18.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	96 (11.0%)	$5,804							88.1	85.4	367	48
061233011066	320	Katherine L. Albiani Middle	Public	7-8	9140 Bradshaw Rd.	Elk Grove	95624	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 686-5210	1,307	62	21	26.7%	407 (31.1%)	62 (4.7%)	213 (16.3%)	432 (33.1%)	9 (0.7%)	12 (0.9%)	172 (13.2%)	$6,462							88.1	89	301	19

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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

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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