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)
062286003496	1591	Los Molinos Elementary	Public	K-8	7700 Stanford	Los Molinos	96055	Tehama County	Los Molinos Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 384-7903	236	14	16.8	81.8%	77 (32.6%)	2 (0.8%)	146 (61.9%)	3 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (3.4%)								35.8	40.3	1449	142
062825004364	1592	Lincoln Middle	Public	6-8	2000 California St.	Oceanside	92054	San Diego County	Oceanside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 901-8900	699	31	22.4	70.2%	189 (27.0%)	14 (2.0%)	416 (59.5%)	14 (2.0%)	1 (0.1%)	6 (0.9%)	57 (8.2%)	$11,933							35.8	36	1596	4
062547003807	1593	Rosewood Park	Public	K-8	2353 Commerce Way	Commerce	90040	Los Angeles County	Montebello Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 887-7862	644	34	18.9	72.7%	4 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	631 (98.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (0.9%)	$6,170							35.8	35.1	1623	30
061215001368	1594	El Nido Elementary	Public	K-8	161 East El Nido Rd.	El Nido	95317	Merced County	El Nido Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 385-8420	148	9	16.4	93.2%	12 (8.1%)	0 (0.0%)	134 (90.5%)	2 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								35.7	53.4	1075	519
060903012267	1595	Clovis Online Charter	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1655 David E Cook Way	Clovis	93611	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(559) 327-4400	813	21	38.3	54.7%	263 (32.3%)	27 (3.3%)	389 (47.8%)	89 (10.9%)	3 (0.4%)	4 (0.5%)	35 (4.3%)	$6,763							35.7	45.2	1306	289
061518001918	1596	South Valley Middle	Public	6-8	7881 Murray Ave.	Gilroy	95020	Santa Clara County	Gilroy Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(669) 205-5200	735	34	21.5	52.4%	49 (6.7%)	5 (0.7%)	616 (83.8%)	32 (4.4%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	29 (3.9%)								35.7	37.8	1533	63
062271003414	1597	Utah Street Elementary	Public	K-8	255 Gabriel Garcia Marquez St.	Los Angeles	90033	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 261-1171	356	24	15.1	95.5%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,498							35.7	28.4	1885	288
060249414413	1598	Peak Prep Pleasant Valley	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	550 Temple Ave.	Camarillo	93010	Ventura County	Peak Prep Pleasant Valley District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(855) 900-7325	300	16	18.2	76.3%	80 (26.7%)	71 (23.7%)	101 (33.7%)	14 (4.7%)	8 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (8.7%)								35.7	38.7	1504	94
063501005927	1599	Lillian Larsen Elementary	Public	K-8	1601 L St.	San Miguel	93451	San Luis Obispo County	San Miguel Joint Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 467-3216	425	22	19.1	76.9%	47 (11.1%)	3 (0.7%)	363 (85.4%)	6 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.4%)	$6,971							35.7	39.8	1469	130
060177113875	1600	Voices College-Bound Language Academy at Morgan Hill	Public, Charter	K-8	16870 Murphy Ave.	Morgan Hill	95037	Santa Clara County	Voices College-Bound Language Academy at Morgan Hill Distri	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 791-1700	289	10	28.9	51.2%	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	283 (97.9%)	4 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								35.6	49.3	1190	410

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on 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.