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)
060263000170	2621	Ball Junior High	Public	7-8	1500 West Ball Rd.	Anaheim	92802	Orange County	Anaheim Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 999-3663	812	44	18.3	91.5%	45 (5.5%)	16 (2.0%)	653 (80.4%)	67 (8.3%)	18 (2.2%)	6 (0.7%)	7 (0.9%)	$12,284							11	15.7	2485	136
062949004547	2622	Pajaro Middle	Public	7-8	250 Salinas Rd.	Watsonville	95076	Santa Cruz County	Pajaro Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 728-6238	440	21	20.5	98.4%	4 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	435 (98.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								11	12.6	2613	9
063227010227	2623	Reef Sunset Middle	Public	6-8	608 North First Ave.	Avenal	93204	Kings County	Reef-Sunset Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 386-4128	562	27	20.9	92.3%	7 (1.2%)	2 (0.4%)	546 (97.2%)	7 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,074							11	10.8	2680	57
060133201993	2624	Rio Tierra Junior High	Public	7-8	3201 Northstead Dr.	Sacramento	95833	Sacramento County	Twin Rivers Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 566-2730	292	17	16.9	89.0%	16 (5.5%)	43 (14.7%)	184 (63.0%)	29 (9.9%)	2 (0.7%)	7 (2.4%)	10 (3.4%)								11	15.7	2482	142
062805011961	2625	Elmhurst United Middle	Public	6-8	1800 98th Ave.	Oakland	94603	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-3229	766	45	17.1	93.7%	6 (0.8%)	161 (21.0%)	529 (69.1%)	30 (3.9%)	2 (0.3%)	12 (1.6%)	26 (3.4%)	$7,421							11	10.7	2683	58
069103012496	2626	Monarch	Public, Alternative	K-12	1625 Newton Ave.	San Diego	92113	San Diego County	San Diego County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 652-4100	265	17	15.5	100.0%	13 (4.9%)	21 (7.9%)	214 (80.8%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	14 (5.3%)	$15,098							11	6.7	2766	140
060846010607	2627	Chino Valley Learning Academy	Public	7-12	15650 Pipeline Ave.	Chino Hills	91709	San Bernardino County	Chino Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 628-1201	17	2	9.8	52.9%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (64.7%)	5 (29.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (5.9%)	$47,581							11			(n/a)
060185412022	2628	Antelope Valley Learning Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	37212 47th St. East	Palmdale	93550	Los Angeles County	Antelope Valley Learning Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 272-0044	1,013	37	27	83.9%	86 (8.5%)	118 (11.6%)	754 (74.4%)	4 (0.4%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	43 (4.2%)								11	14.1	2552	76
062271003204	2629	John Muir Middle	Public	6-8	5929 South Vermont Ave.	Los Angeles	90044	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 565-2200	693	34	20.6	98.7%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$12,553							10.9	10.4	2698	69
063417009435	2630	Del Vallejo Middle	Public	6-8	1885 East Lynwood Dr.	San Bernardino	92404	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 881-8280	598	34	17.3	93.8%	8 (1.3%)	119 (19.9%)	444 (74.2%)	5 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	18 (3.0%)	$7,829							10.9	8.5	2736	106

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

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