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)
063877006515	531	North Tahoe Middle	Public	6-8	2945 Polaris Rd.	Tahoe City	96145	Placer County	Tahoe-Truckee Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 581-7050	299	18	16.2	36.8%	160 (53.5%)	0 (0.0%)	123 (41.1%)	2 (0.7%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (4.3%)	$17,460							77.7	75.3	575	44
061026001115	532	Culver City Middle	Public	6-8	4601 Elenda St.	Culver City	90230	Los Angeles County	Culver City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 842-4200	1,583	68	23.4	40.4%	391 (24.7%)	204 (12.9%)	590 (37.3%)	168 (10.6%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.3%)	224 (14.2%)	$4,857							77.7	77.7	538	6
062418003643	533	McCabe Elementary	Public	K-8	701 West McCabe Rd.	El Centro	92243	Imperial County	McCabe Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 352-5443	1,209	49	24.7	38.6%	101 (8.4%)	3 (0.2%)	1,042 (86.2%)	32 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (2.6%)	$8,370							77.6	73	620	87
061455008141	534	Bullard Talent	Public	K-8	4950 North Harrison Ave.	Fresno	93704	Fresno County	Fresno Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 248-7030	743	37	19.8	52.8%	167 (22.5%)	46 (6.2%)	461 (62.0%)	19 (2.6%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.4%)	44 (5.9%)	$7,924							77.6	69	697	163
061434001642	535	Franklin Elementary	Public	K-8	332 North Township Rd.	Yuba City	95993	Sutter County	Franklin Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 822-5151	490	21	23.4	30.0%	281 (57.3%)	1 (0.2%)	107 (21.8%)	52 (10.6%)	5 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (9.0%)	$5,475							77.5	74.6	592	57
060175808755	536	El Sol Santa Ana Science and Arts Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	328 West Halesworth St.	Santa Ana	92701	Orange County	El Sol Santa Ana Science and Arts Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 543-0023	956	48	19.8	58.2%	9 (0.9%)	7 (0.7%)	918 (96.0%)	10 (1.0%)	3 (0.3%)	3 (0.3%)	6 (0.6%)								77.5	66.3	755	219
060903008810	537	Kastner Intermediate	Public	7-8	7676 North First St.	Fresno	93720	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-2500	1,133	50	22.6	55.6%	311 (27.4%)	57 (5.0%)	595 (52.5%)	106 (9.4%)	6 (0.5%)	6 (0.5%)	48 (4.2%)	$5,778							77.5	79.6	497	40
063066004777	538	Bernardo Yorba Middle	Public	7-8	5350 Fairmont Blvd.	Yorba Linda	92886	Orange County	Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 986-7400	505	19	26.2	41.8%	196 (38.8%)	5 (1.0%)	188 (37.2%)	92 (18.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (4.4%)	$7,213							77.4	80	486	52
062772004198	539	Sinaloa Middle	Public	6-8	2045 Vineyard Rd.	Novato	94947	Marin County	Novato Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 897-2111	745	33	22.7	23.6%	371 (49.8%)	11 (1.5%)	250 (33.6%)	37 (5.0%)	4 (0.5%)	3 (0.4%)	67 (9.0%)	$6,674							77.4	79.3	508	31
063432005513	540	Marston Middle	Public	6-8	3799 Clairemont Dr.	San Diego	92117	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 810-7500	594	29	20.2	40.9%	259 (43.6%)	6 (1.0%)	236 (39.7%)	32 (5.4%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (9.4%)	$8,617							77.3	71.2	659	119

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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