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)
062961010323	81	Frank S. Greene Junior Middle	Public	6-8	750 North California Ave.	Palo Alto	94303	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 494-8120	760	52	14.5	15.3%	232 (30.5%)	17 (2.2%)	178 (23.4%)	226 (29.7%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (1.6%)	94 (12.4%)	$15,049							97.3	97.7	69	12
060744011701	82	Arroyo Vista Middle	Public	6-8	23371 Arroyo Vista	Rancho Santa Margarita	92688	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5951	330	16	20.2	20.0%	191 (57.9%)	4 (1.2%)	40 (12.1%)	53 (16.1%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (12.1%)	$10,412							97.3	95.9	122	40
061296011095	83	Day Creek Intermediate	Public	6-8	12345 Coyote Dr.	Etiwanda	91739	San Bernardino County	Etiwanda Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 803-3300	1,272	57	22.1	23.4%	264 (20.8%)	56 (4.4%)	404 (31.8%)	448 (35.2%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	97 (7.6%)	$5,493							97.2	97.6	74	9
060015310941	84	Monterey Highlands Elementary	Public	K-8	400 Casuda Canyon Dr.	Monterey Park	91754	Los Angeles County	Alhambra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 570-6220	919	38	23.8	44.1%	20 (2.2%)	4 (0.4%)	315 (34.3%)	533 (58.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	46 (5.0%)	$11,278							97.2	97.5	77	7
060002507535	85	Manhattan Beach Middle	Public	6-8	1501 North Redondo Ave.	Manhattan Beach	90266	Los Angeles County	Manhattan Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 545-4878	1,123	55	20.5	5.4%	635 (56.5%)	9 (0.8%)	164 (14.6%)	155 (13.8%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	158 (14.1%)	$10,278							97.2	96.6	106	21
060184204029	86	San Carlos Charter Learning Center	Public, Charter	K-8	750 Dartmouth Ave.	San Carlos	94070	San Mateo County	San Carlos Charter Learning Center District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 508-7343	367	19	19.3	4.6%	176 (48.0%)	2 (0.5%)	38 (10.4%)	92 (25.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	58 (15.8%)								97.1	94.3	168	82
062785009414	87	Medea Creek Middle	Public	6-8	1002 Doubletree Rd.	Oak Park	91377	Ventura County	Oak Park Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 707-7922	1,057	44	23.9	11.8%	552 (52.2%)	13 (1.2%)	112 (10.6%)	288 (27.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	89 (8.4%)	$9,480							97.1	97.3	84	3
063174004911	88	R. Roger Rowe Middle	Public	6-8	5927 La Granada	Rancho Santa Fe	92067	San Diego County	Rancho Santa Fe Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 756-1141	212	18	11.7	3.8%	144 (67.9%)	2 (0.9%)	26 (12.3%)	18 (8.5%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	20 (9.4%)	$5,566							97	98.7	31	57
068450007060	89	Lakeside Middle	Public	7-8	3 Lemongrass	Irvine	92604	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 559-1601	652	27	24.5	21.8%	188 (28.8%)	12 (1.8%)	87 (13.3%)	295 (45.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (10.6%)	$6,253							97	97	97	8
062574003851	90	Joaquin Moraga Intermediate	Public	6-8	1010 Camino Pablo	Moraga	94556	Contra Costa County	Moraga Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 376-7206	622	31	20	5.3%	286 (46.0%)	10 (1.6%)	65 (10.5%)	118 (19.0%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	137 (22.0%)	$6,952							97	97.8	64	26

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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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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