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)
060985001063	1561	Letha Raney Intermediate	Public	6-8	1010 West Citron St.	Corona	92882	Riverside County	Corona-Norco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 736-3221	660	29	22.6	89.1%	56 (8.5%)	21 (3.2%)	502 (76.1%)	64 (9.7%)	4 (0.6%)	7 (1.1%)	6 (0.9%)	$9,152							37.1	34.6	1645	84
062805008676	1562	LIFE Academy	Public	6-12	2101 35th Ave.	Oakland	94601	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-1335	424	26	16.2	95.3%	3 (0.7%)	17 (4.0%)	381 (89.9%)	14 (3.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.9%)	$7,960							37.1	32.9	1704	142
062825014502	1563	Surfside Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1125 South Ditmar St.	Oceanside	92054	San Diego County	Oceanside Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(760) 901-8600	315	11	29.7	73.7%	108 (34.3%)	9 (2.9%)	166 (52.7%)	8 (2.5%)	1 (0.3%)	6 (1.9%)	17 (5.4%)								37	46.2	1284	279
062865004459	1564	Yorba Middle	Public	6-8	935 North Cambridge	Orange	92867	Orange County	Orange Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 997-6161	538	25	21.4	90.9%	29 (5.4%)	3 (0.6%)	488 (90.7%)	9 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	7 (1.3%)	$5,606							37	27	1956	392
063906004200	1565	Carl Smith Middle	Public	6-8	23825 Avenue 92	Terra Bella	93270	Tulare County	Terra Bella Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 535-4451	267	12	21.3	93.6%	6 (2.2%)	1 (0.4%)	255 (95.5%)	5 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,997							36.9	42	1400	165
060962000985	1566	Robert F. Kennedy Elementary	Public	K-8	1305 South Oleander St.	Compton	90220	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 898-6420	595	25	24.2	62.0%	0 (0.0%)	42 (7.1%)	546 (91.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.7%)	2 (0.3%)								36.9	44.3	1337	229
063801006426	1567	Montezuma Elementary	Public	K-8	2843 Farmington Rd.	Stockton	95206	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7255	661	29	22.6	90.2%	18 (2.7%)	21 (3.2%)	582 (88.0%)	34 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.8%)	$8,299							36.8	32.2	1738	171
060375000344	1568	Ballico-Cressey Community Charter	Public, Charter	1-8	11818 Gregg St.	Ballico	95303	Merced County	Ballico-Cressey Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 394-9400	321	17	19.3	44.2%	98 (30.5%)	3 (0.9%)	205 (63.9%)	3 (0.9%)	5 (1.6%)	2 (0.6%)	5 (1.6%)	$9,526							36.8	46	1287	281
060224412945	1569	Great Valley Academy - Salida	Public, Charter	K-8	5901 Sisk Rd.	Modesto	95356	Stanislaus County	Great Valley Academy - Salida District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 545-7500	823	34	24.2	29.5%	253 (30.7%)	26 (3.2%)	445 (54.1%)	33 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	65 (7.9%)								36.8	40.9	1434	135
062223011414	1570	Millswood Middle	Public	7-8	233 North Mills Ave.	Lodi	95242	San Joaquin County	Lodi Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 331-8332	769	39	19.5	70.5%	290 (37.7%)	8 (1.0%)	385 (50.1%)	49 (6.4%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	28 (3.6%)	$10,641							36.8	42.2	1398	172

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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

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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