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)
060717000656	1281	Camino Elementary	Public	K-8	3060 Snows Rd.	Camino	95709	El Dorado County	Camino Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 644-4552	406	22	18.2	51.0%	274 (67.5%)	2 (0.5%)	107 (26.4%)	2 (0.5%)	9 (2.2%)	2 (0.5%)	10 (2.5%)	$11,405							45.7	49.2	1192	89
060006002208	1282	Emilie J. Ross Middle	Public	6-8	7448 Fox Rd.	Hughson	95326	Stanislaus County	Hughson Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 883-4425	456	20	22.7	68.0%	191 (41.9%)	2 (0.4%)	253 (55.5%)	9 (2.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$6,816							45.7	34.4	1649	367
060240504288	1283	Lazear Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	824 29th Ave.	Oakland	94601	Alameda County	Lazear Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 689-2018	479	20	23.9	81.4%	12 (2.5%)	24 (5.0%)	423 (88.3%)	17 (3.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)								45.7	41	1428	145
062871014591	1284	Orcutt School for Independent Study	Public, Virtual	K-8	1220 Oak Knoll Rd.	Santa Maria	93455	Santa Barbara County	Orcutt Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 960-5572	44	3	13	56.8%	13 (29.5%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (59.1%)	1 (2.3%)	1 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (6.8%)								45.6	35.6	1612	328
062664004695	1285	Unidos Middle	Public	6-8	1850 Salvador Ave	Napa	94558	Napa County	Napa Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 253-6813	599	26	22.9	59.3%	138 (23.0%)	3 (0.5%)	439 (73.3%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (2.3%)	$7,898							45.6	49.3	1188	97
063930006548	1286	Tipton Elementary	Public	K-8	370 North Evans Rd.	Tipton	93272	Tulare County	Tipton Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 752-4213	501	29	17.1	90.4%	19 (3.8%)	4 (0.8%)	469 (93.6%)	8 (1.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,927							45.6	45.9	1288	2
062706007796	1287	Newark Middle	Public	6-8	6201 Lafayette Ave.	Newark	94560	Alameda County	Newark Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 818-3000	1,002	43	23.1	48.6%	88 (8.8%)	25 (2.5%)	558 (55.7%)	225 (22.5%)	6 (0.6%)	26 (2.6%)	74 (7.4%)	$10,328							45.6	48.9	1199	88
060187811155	1288	High Technical Middle Media Arts	Public, Charter	6-8	2230 Truxtun Rd. 2nd Fl.	San Diego	92106	San Diego County	High Technical Middle Media Arts District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 398-8640	340	19	18.2	47.1%	87 (25.6%)	22 (6.5%)	178 (52.4%)	19 (5.6%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.6%)	31 (9.1%)								45.5	45.5	1296	8
062187002596	1289	Washington Elementary	Public	K-8	451 East Samoa St.	Lindsay	93247	Tulare County	Lindsay Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 562-5916	744	31	23.9	92.2%	9 (1.2%)	1 (0.1%)	724 (97.3%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	4 (0.5%)	$7,338							45.5	45.8	1290	1
063531008548	1290	Gonzalo Felicitas Mendez Fundamental Intermediate	Public	6-8	2000 North Bristol	Santa Ana	92706	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 972-7800	1,263	58	21.9	81.4%	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	1,246 (98.7%)	8 (0.6%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.2%)								45.5	44	1343	53

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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