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)
062271003155	2551	Charles Maclay Middle	Public	6-8	12540 Pierce Ave.	Pacoima	91331	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 686-3800	349	24	14.2	97.1%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$12,070							12.9	13.2	2580	29
060257714626	2552	KIPP Generations Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	1415 West Gardena Blvd.	Gardena	90247	Los Angeles County	KIPP Generations Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 489-4461	117	5	23.4	76.9%	1 (0.9%)	60 (51.3%)	42 (35.9%)	4 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (8.5%)								12.8			(n/a)
063444005691	2553	Monte Vista Middle	Public	6-8	425 North Lyon Ave.	San Jacinto	92582	Riverside County	San Jacinto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 654-9361	913	48	19.1	86.7%	81 (8.9%)	85 (9.3%)	689 (75.5%)	10 (1.1%)	11 (1.2%)	1 (0.1%)	36 (3.9%)	$11,587							12.8	18	2374	179
063384005262	2554	Umoja International Academy	Public	7-12	5301 N St.	Sacramento	95819	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-5350	536	27	19.6	65.3%	142 (26.5%)	61 (11.4%)	248 (46.3%)	29 (5.4%)	7 (1.3%)	5 (0.9%)	42 (7.8%)	$10,385							12.8	22.1	2173	381
061632309842	2555	Gustine Middle	Public	6-8	28075 Sullivan Rd.	Gustine	95322	Merced County	Gustine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 854-5030	405	19	20.9	78.3%	32 (7.9%)	0 (0.0%)	355 (87.7%)	7 (1.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.5%)								12.7	16.8	2437	118
061692011020	2556	Hamilton	Public	6-12	57430 Mitchell Rd.	Anza	92539	Riverside County	Hemet Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 763-1865	376	24	15.3	77.1%	148 (39.4%)	0 (0.0%)	166 (44.1%)	18 (4.8%)	19 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (6.1%)	$18,208							12.7	15.5	2492	64
060263000188	2557	South Junior High	Public	7-8	2320 East South St.	Anaheim	92806	Orange County	Anaheim Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 999-3667	1,297	63	20.4	90.7%	43 (3.3%)	18 (1.4%)	1,176 (90.7%)	40 (3.1%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	15 (1.2%)	$11,818							12.6	15	2508	49
062361003581	2558	Lincoln Elementary	Public	K-8	750 East Yosemite Ave.	Manteca	95336	San Joaquin County	Manteca Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 858-7320	648	27	24.1	65.4%	78 (12.0%)	29 (4.5%)	467 (72.1%)	52 (8.0%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	18 (2.8%)	$6,049							12.6	11.2	2667	109
062805011920	2559	Coliseum College Prep Academy	Public	6-12	1390 66th Ave.	Oakland	94621	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-3232	700	51	13.7	96.7%	14 (2.0%)	97 (13.9%)	548 (78.3%)	14 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	23 (3.3%)	$8,968							12.6	14.9	2513	46
060001409676	2560	Ranchero Middle	Public	7-8	17607 Ranchero Rd.	Hesperia	92345	San Bernardino County	Hesperia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 948-0175	1,160	51	22.5	57.7%	248 (21.4%)	76 (6.6%)	804 (69.3%)	15 (1.3%)	2 (0.2%)	3 (0.3%)	12 (1.0%)	$7,533							12.5	18.2	2366	194

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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.