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)
060903010202	201	Alta Sierra Intermediate	Public	7-8	380 West Teague Ave.	Clovis	93619	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-3500	1,355	60	22.6	37.3%	540 (39.9%)	32 (2.4%)	495 (36.5%)	199 (14.7%)	5 (0.4%)	2 (0.1%)	82 (6.1%)	$5,533							93.3	93.2	202	1
063570007360	202	Santa Monica Alternative (K-8)	Public	K-8	2525 Fifth St.	Santa Monica	90405	Los Angeles County	Santa Monica-Malibu Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 396-2640	219	10	21.9	12.8%	118 (53.9%)	11 (5.0%)	41 (18.7%)	21 (9.6%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (12.3%)	$7,658							93.3	94.9	157	45
060141012109	203	Bethany Elementary	Public	K-8	570 Escuela Dr.	Mountain House	95391	San Joaquin County	Lammersville Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 836-7250	787	32	24.4	14.2%	138 (17.5%)	25 (3.2%)	148 (18.8%)	383 (48.7%)	4 (0.5%)	4 (0.5%)	85 (10.8%)								93.2	95	154	49
060245711159	204	KIPP Summit Academy	Public, Charter	5-8	2005 Via Barrett	San Lorenzo	94580	Alameda County	KIPP Summit Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 258-0106	422	21	20.2	76.3%	11 (2.6%)	14 (3.3%)	178 (42.2%)	210 (49.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	8 (1.9%)								93.2	86.5	347	143
063066009615	205	Yorba Linda Middle	Public	6-8	4777 Casa Loma Ave.	Yorba Linda	92886	Orange County	Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 986-7080	824	36	22.7	32.2%	305 (37.0%)	8 (1.0%)	235 (28.5%)	226 (27.4%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (5.6%)	$5,850							93.1	88.4	319	114
060744002334	206	Aliso Viejo Middle	Public	6-8	111 Park Ave.	Aliso Viejo	92656	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 831-2622	799	39	20.4	35.2%	427 (53.4%)	13 (1.6%)	155 (19.4%)	109 (13.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	93 (11.6%)	$9,537							93.1	94	174	32
061314001499	207	Quimby Oak Middle	Public	7-8	3190 Quimby Rd.	San Jose	95148	Santa Clara County	Evergreen Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 270-6735	831	40	20.5	22.0%	26 (3.1%)	7 (0.8%)	196 (23.6%)	562 (67.6%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	36 (4.3%)	$5,518							92.9	90.6	268	61
063441005662	208	Roosevelt Middle	Public	6-8	460 Arguello Blvd.	San Francisco	94118	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 750-8446	657	37	17.6	44.0%	129 (19.6%)	26 (4.0%)	70 (10.7%)	329 (50.1%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	100 (15.2%)	$6,103							92.9	92.4	222	14
068450003493	209	South Lake Middle	Public	7-8	655 West Yale Loop	Irvine	92614	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6700	668	28	23.6	34.7%	220 (32.9%)	27 (4.0%)	114 (17.1%)	226 (33.8%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.6%)	77 (11.5%)	$6,343							92.8	93.2	203	6
060247813797	210	Valley View Charter Prep	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	31400 S Koster Rd.	Tracy	95304	San Joaquin County	Valley View Charter Prep District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(866) 992-9033	669	25	26.5	43.3%	304 (45.4%)	46 (6.9%)	125 (18.7%)	162 (24.2%)	12 (1.8%)	5 (0.7%)	15 (2.2%)								92.8	81.8	446	236

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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:

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.