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)
063315005160	1881	University Heights Middle	Public	7-8	1155 Massachusetts Ave.	Riverside	92507	Riverside County	Riverside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 788-7388	804	36	22.1	92.4%	44 (5.5%)	82 (10.2%)	633 (78.7%)	26 (3.2%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	16 (2.0%)	$9,160							28.4	22.1	2171	290
060011609482	1882	Spring Valley Elementary	Public	K-8	46655 Road 200	O Neals	93645	Madera County	Chawanakee Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 868-3343	247	10	24.8	43.7%	171 (69.2%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (22.7%)	1 (0.4%)	7 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (4.9%)	$5,562							28.4	35.2	1622	260
060218112028	1883	Aveson Global Leadership Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	575 West Altadena Dr.	Altadena	91001	Los Angeles County	Aveson Global Leadership Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 797-1438	222	15	14.6	27.9%	86 (38.7%)	24 (10.8%)	89 (40.1%)	11 (5.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.5%)								28.4	42.7	1380	503
060232813918	1884	California Pacific Charter - San Diego	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	940 South Coast Dr.	Costa Mesa	92626	Orange County	California Pacific Charter - San Diego District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(855) 225-7227	245	39	6.3	58.4%	88 (35.9%)	16 (6.5%)	93 (38.0%)	14 (5.7%)	4 (1.6%)	4 (1.6%)	26 (10.6%)								28.4	30	1818	66
062415013945	1885	Maxwell Middle	Public	6-8	146 North St.	Maxwell	95955	Colusa County	Maxwell Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 438-2401	83	3	26.1	56.6%	30 (36.1%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (57.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.4%)	$7,557							28.3	29.9	1824	61
063441005655	1886	King Junior (Martin Luther) Academic Middle	Public	6-8	350 Girard St.	San Francisco	94134	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 330-1500	366	20	18	70.2%	8 (2.2%)	56 (15.3%)	124 (33.9%)	146 (39.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.9%)	25 (6.8%)	$6,103							28.3	29.9	1821	65
063753006348	1887	Parkway Heights Middle	Public	6-8	650 Sunset Ave.	South San Francisco	94080	San Mateo County	South San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 877-8788	612	34	17.7	55.1%	13 (2.1%)	7 (1.1%)	492 (80.4%)	73 (11.9%)	4 (0.7%)	5 (0.8%)	18 (2.9%)	$5,848							28.2	31.8	1757	130
060173713667	1888	Bella Mente Montessori Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	1737 West Vista Way	Vista	92083	San Diego County	Bella Mente Montessori Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 621-8948	398	19	21	55.5%	107 (26.9%)	10 (2.5%)	240 (60.3%)	12 (3.0%)	2 (0.5%)	3 (0.8%)	23 (5.8%)								28.2	44.1	1342	546
062460003690	1889	Herbert Hoover Middle	Public	7-8	800 East 26th St.	Merced	95340	Merced County	Merced City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 385-6631	614	23	27.1	79.0%	94 (15.3%)	35 (5.7%)	426 (69.4%)	26 (4.2%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	30 (4.9%)	$8,097							28.2	30.1	1817	72
062271003372	1890	Robert Louis Stevenson College and Career Preparatory	Public	6-8	725 South Indiana St.	Los Angeles	90023	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 780-6400	876	50	17.4	96.3%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$11,206							28.2	24.9	2060	170

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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:

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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