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)
062961011454	31	Ellen Fletcher Middle	Public	6-8	655 Arastradero Rd.	Palo Alto	94306	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 856-9810	549	38	14.5	11.5%	144 (26.2%)	8 (1.5%)	97 (17.7%)	221 (40.3%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	75 (13.7%)	$16,966							98.5	99	21	10
060141014330	32	Hansen Elementary	Public	K-8	1400 South Durant Terrace	Mountain House	95391	San Joaquin County	Lammersville Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 836-7260	923	37	24.6	5.3%	51 (5.5%)	18 (2.0%)	63 (6.8%)	710 (76.9%)	23 (2.5%)	4 (0.4%)	53 (5.7%)								98.5	98.7	27	5
062961004598	33	Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle	Public	6-8	480 East Meadow Dr.	Palo Alto	94306	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 856-5188	1,025	69	14.9	9.5%	251 (24.5%)	14 (1.4%)	115 (11.2%)	524 (51.1%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (1.1%)	110 (10.7%)	$14,581							98.4	98.7	30	3
063315013103	34	Riverside STEM Academy	Public	5-12	4466 Mt.Vernon Ave.	Riverside	92507	Riverside County	Riverside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 788-7308	659	25	25.9	24.3%	158 (24.0%)	23 (3.5%)	288 (43.7%)	147 (22.3%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.6%)	38 (5.8%)	$7,377							98.4	98.6	35	1
060714013993	35	Steindorf STEAM K-8 Magnet	Public	K-8	3001 Ross Ave.	San Jose	95124	Santa Clara County	Cambrian	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 377-3022	490	21	22.9	3.7%	158 (32.2%)	10 (2.0%)	50 (10.2%)	200 (40.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	72 (14.7%)	$5,864							98.3	97.2	89	54
063438008307	36	Carmel Valley Middle	Public	7-8	3800 Mykonos Ln.	San Diego	92130	San Diego County	San Dieguito Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 481-8221	700	30	23	14.7%	256 (36.6%)	6 (0.9%)	86 (12.3%)	275 (39.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	75 (10.7%)	$6,391							98.3	98.4	40	4
063033004732	37	Piedmont Middle	Public	6-8	740 Magnolia Ave.	Piedmont	94611	Alameda County	Piedmont City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 594-2668	532	33	15.8	3.9%	256 (48.1%)	13 (2.4%)	58 (10.9%)	94 (17.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	108 (20.3%)	$11,393							98.3	98.5	36	1
060001913169	38	Eleanor Murray Fallon	Public	6-8	3601 Kohnen Way	Dublin	94568	Alameda County	Dublin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 875-9376	1,641	66	25	4.1%	122 (7.4%)	18 (1.1%)	69 (4.2%)	1,334 (81.3%)	2 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	95 (5.8%)	$6,214							98.3	98.5	37	1
063153013729	39	Design 39 Campus	Public	K-8	17050 Del Sur Ridge Rd.	San Diego	92127	San Diego County	Poway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 676-6639	1,251	49	25.4	7.3%	401 (32.1%)	12 (1.0%)	123 (9.8%)	569 (45.5%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.4%)	140 (11.2%)	$6,327							98.2	98	55	16
063147004881	40	Corte Madera	Public	4-8	4575 Alpine Rd.	Portola Valley	94028	San Mateo County	Portola Valley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 851-1777	258	23	11.3	6.2%	172 (66.7%)	3 (1.2%)	32 (12.4%)	15 (5.8%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	35 (13.6%)	$27,075							98.2	99.3	16	24

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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

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.