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)
063204014118	1101	Stellar Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	5885 East Bonnyview Rd.	Redding	96001	Shasta County	Redding Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 245-7730	200	14	14.5	44.0%	143 (71.5%)	1 (0.5%)	34 (17.0%)	1 (0.5%)	3 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (9.0%)	$8,371							52.1	42.5	1387	286
061392011096	1102	Wayne Ruble Middle	Public	6-8	6762 Juniper Ave.	Fontana	92336	San Bernardino County	Fontana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 357-5530	1,357	61	22.1	61.5%	82 (6.0%)	139 (10.2%)	1,000 (73.7%)	103 (7.6%)	1 (0.1%)	5 (0.4%)	27 (2.0%)								52.1	55.2	1026	76
061023001113	1103	Cuddeback Elementary	Public	K-8	300 Wilder Rd.	Carlotta	95528	Humboldt County	Cuddeback Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 768-3372	152	8	19	59.2%	98 (64.5%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (18.4%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.9%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (13.2%)	$13,263							52	56.9	988	115
061005001106	1104	Traweek Middle	Public	6-8	1941 East Rowland Ave.	West Covina	91723	Los Angeles County	Covina-Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 974-7400	634	27	23.1	69.2%	27 (4.3%)	14 (2.2%)	492 (77.6%)	77 (12.1%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	19 (3.0%)	$7,509							52	60.4	891	213
060962000983	1105	Jefferson Elementary	Public	K-8	2508 East 133rd St.	Compton	90222	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 898-6190	705	27	26.4	67.5%	4 (0.6%)	23 (3.3%)	669 (94.9%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.4%)	5 (0.7%)								52	60.3	894	211
064214009656	1106	Glen Edwards Middle	Public	6-8	204 L St.	Lincoln	95648	Placer County	Western Placer Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 645-6370	770	39	19.7	41.9%	329 (42.7%)	20 (2.6%)	345 (44.8%)	32 (4.2%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	40 (5.2%)	$10,164							52	43.9	1345	239
061683002144	1107	Heber	Public	5-8	1052 Heber Ave.	Heber	92249	Imperial County	Heber Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 337-6530	540	24	22.5	69.6%	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	536 (99.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)								52	49.9	1170	63
060206214020	1108	Blue Ridge Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	955 Stanislaus St.	Maricopa	93252	Kern County	Blue Ridge Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(661) 412-9363	6,751	233	28.9	42.4%	2,626 (38.9%)	386 (5.7%)	2,436 (36.1%)	434 (6.4%)	12 (0.2%)	20 (0.3%)	828 (12.3%)								51.9	55.6	1020	88
062553013758	1109	Dual Language Academy of the Monterey Peninsula	Public	K-8	1650 Sonoma Ave.	Seaside	93955	Monterey County	Monterey Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 899-1100	314	16	19.6	75.2%	24 (7.6%)	5 (1.6%)	276 (87.9%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	4 (1.3%)	3 (1.0%)	$8,839							51.9	54.3	1051	58
061524000440	1110	Verdugo Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	1700 East Mountain St.	Glendale	91207	Los Angeles County	Glendale Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 548-0740	224	15	14.9	46.9%	139 (62.1%)	2 (0.9%)	50 (22.3%)	21 (9.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.5%)	$6,952							51.9	72	640	470

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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

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.