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)
062454014545	1451	Menifee Virtual	Public, Virtual	K-8	27625 Sherman Rd.	Menifee	92585	Riverside County	Menifee Union	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(951) 679-8356	219	11	19.6	61.6%	35 (16.0%)	15 (6.8%)	106 (48.4%)	25 (11.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.9%)	35 (16.0%)								40.2	31.3	1771	320
063525005979	1452	Washington Academic Middle	Public	7-8	1705 Tenth St.	Sanger	93657	Fresno County	Sanger Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 524-7015	1,462	67	21.8	74.9%	96 (6.6%)	26 (1.8%)	1,063 (72.7%)	173 (11.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.2%)	101 (6.9%)	$11,064							40.1	39.8	1464	12
069101208491	1453	Valley Oaks Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	3501 Chester Ave.	Bakersfield	93301	Kern County	Kern County Office of Education	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 852-6700	1,108	50	22.1	38.6%	599 (54.1%)	22 (2.0%)	378 (34.1%)	20 (1.8%)	7 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	79 (7.1%)	$5,377							40.1	51.5	1121	332
060209114186	1454	Grow Academy Shafter	Public, Charter	K-8	471 West Los Angeles St.	Shafter	93263	Kern County	Grow Academy Shafter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 630-7220	801	32	25.4	74.7%	72 (9.0%)	7 (0.9%)	714 (89.1%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.6%)								40.1	37.6	1539	85
060846000843	1455	Magnolia Junior High	Public	7-8	13150 Mountain Ave.	Chino	91710	San Bernardino County	Chino Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 627-9263	623	31	20.3	79.0%	64 (10.3%)	20 (3.2%)	491 (78.8%)	38 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.3%)	$11,290							40.1	40.9	1433	22
063642006200	1456	Shaffer Elementary	Public	K-8	722-055 Highway 395 North	Litchfield	96117	Lassen County	Shaffer Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 254-6577	207	10	21.7	56.5%	136 (65.7%)	6 (2.9%)	47 (22.7%)	2 (1.0%)	7 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.3%)								40	31.8	1754	298
060015811516	1457	Marvin A. Dutcher Middle	Public	6-8	1441 Colorado Ave.	Turlock	95380	Stanislaus County	Turlock Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 667-8817	851	36	23.3	57.2%	159 (18.7%)	6 (0.7%)	655 (77.0%)	9 (1.1%)	5 (0.6%)	3 (0.4%)	13 (1.5%)	$10,267							40	33.6	1682	225
061233007700	1458	Las Flores High (Alternative)	Public, Alternative	K-12	6131 Orange Ave.	Sacramento	95823	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 427-5428	689	27	25.8	52.0%	106 (15.4%)	102 (14.8%)	253 (36.7%)	113 (16.4%)	7 (1.0%)	22 (3.2%)	86 (12.5%)	$8,256							40	44.9	1315	143
060203912203	1459	Golden Eagle Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1030 W A Barr Rd.	Mount Shasta	96067	Siskiyou County	Golden Eagle Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 926-5800	431	28	15.1	73.8%	298 (69.1%)	3 (0.7%)	78 (18.1%)	2 (0.5%)	13 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	35 (8.1%)								40	45.2	1310	149
064116006794	1460	Green Acres Middle	Public	6-8	1147 North Mooney Blvd.	Visalia	93291	Tulare County	Visalia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 730-7671	747	33	22.3	66.4%	114 (15.3%)	5 (0.7%)	538 (72.0%)	44 (5.9%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.4%)	41 (5.5%)	$6,616							40	51.4	1123	337

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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