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)
061173008824	711	Durham Intermediate	Public	6-8	9416 Putney Dr.	Durham	95938	Butte County	Durham Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 895-4690	225	11	20.2	44.0%	159 (70.7%)	0 (0.0%)	54 (24.0%)	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.0%)	$10,170							68.4	69	699	12
069102407578	712	Occs:chep/Pchs	Public, Alternative	K-12	14262 Franklin Ave. Ste. 100	Tustin	92780	Orange County	Orange County Department of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 245-6500	361	10	35.6	40.2%	105 (29.1%)	7 (1.9%)	154 (42.7%)	49 (13.6%)	5 (1.4%)	2 (0.6%)	38 (10.5%)	$4,730							68.4			(n/a)
062211002623	713	East Avenue Middle	Public	6-8	3951 East Ave.	Livermore	94550	Alameda County	Livermore Valley Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 606-4711	547	27	20.6	35.5%	212 (38.8%)	13 (2.4%)	215 (39.3%)	59 (10.8%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	46 (8.4%)	$6,910							68.3	72.3	636	77
062271003187	714	Louis Armstrong Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	5041 Sunnyslope Ave.	Sherman Oaks	91423	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 528-1600	1,329	62	21.3	44.8%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$7,493							68.3	60.9	875	161
060214808303	715	Preuss School UCSD	Public, Charter	6-12	9500 Gilman Dr.	La Jolla	92093	San Diego County	Preuss School UCSD District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 822-3000	839	44	19.1	90.8%	18 (2.1%)	164 (19.5%)	495 (59.0%)	137 (16.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (3.0%)								68.2	61.1	869	154
061111001231	716	Palm Desert Charter Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	74-200 Rutledge Way	Palm Desert	92260	Riverside County	Desert Sands Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 862-4320	1,347	50	26.9	60.3%	482 (35.8%)	26 (1.9%)	670 (49.7%)	94 (7.0%)	4 (0.3%)	2 (0.1%)	69 (5.1%)	$9,712							68.2	70.3	677	39
061788007291	717	Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes	Public	K-8	16633 Elizabeth Lake Rd.	Lake Hughes	93532	Los Angeles County	Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 724-1231	147	9	16.5	35.4%	92 (62.6%)	2 (1.4%)	46 (31.3%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.1%)								68.2	87.8	327	390
062271003287	718	George K. Porter Middle	Public	6-8	15960 Kingsbury St.	Granada Hills	91344	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 920-2050	995	46	21.4	65.7%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,219							68.1	63.9	795	77
062553003830	719	La Mesa	Public	K-8	1 La Mesa Way	Monterey	93940	Monterey County	Monterey Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 649-1872	564	27	21	28.0%	277 (49.1%)	18 (3.2%)	165 (29.3%)	63 (11.2%)	4 (0.7%)	6 (1.1%)	30 (5.3%)	$5,700							68	64.4	784	65
060227413913	720	Cabrillo Point Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	13915 Danielson St. Ste 200	Poway	92064	San Diego County	Cabrillo Point Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(619) 404-3190	4,283	146	29.3	34.2%	2,303 (53.8%)	55 (1.3%)	1,183 (27.6%)	282 (6.6%)	17 (0.4%)	11 (0.3%)	429 (10.0%)								68	67.6	732	12

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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.