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)
060528000498	1241	Benjamin Foxen Elementary	Public	K-8	4949 Foxen Canyon Rd.	Santa Maria	93454	Santa Barbara County	Blochman Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 937-1148	189	10	19.6	48.1%	74 (39.2%)	1 (0.5%)	104 (55.0%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.7%)	$10,231							47.1	59	935	306
061878002275	1242	Janesville Elementary	Public	K-8	464-555 Main St.	Janesville	96114	Lassen County	Janesville Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 253-3551	315	19	16.5	41.6%	236 (74.9%)	1 (0.3%)	52 (16.5%)	3 (1.0%)	6 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (5.4%)	$9,566							47	48.9	1200	42
060610000545	1243	Browns Elementary	Public	K-8	1248 Pacific Ave.	Rio Oso	95674	Sutter County	Browns Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 633-2523	122	7	17.4	41.0%	64 (52.5%)	1 (0.8%)	38 (31.1%)	9 (7.4%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (7.4%)	$8,445							47	31	1786	543
061398001605	1244	Foresthill Divide	Public	K-8	22888 Foresthill Rd.	Foresthill	95631	Placer County	Foresthill Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 367-3782	446	21	21.2	39.0%	347 (77.8%)	4 (0.9%)	62 (13.9%)	2 (0.4%)	3 (0.7%)	2 (0.4%)	26 (5.8%)	$10,148							47	45.6	1294	50
063132004851	1245	Lorbeer Middle	Public	7-8	501 Diamond Bar Blvd.	Diamond Bar	91765	Los Angeles County	Pomona Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 397-4527	623	29	21.3	78.8%	24 (3.9%)	27 (4.3%)	476 (76.4%)	61 (9.8%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	32 (5.1%)	$5,384							46.9	47.3	1243	2
060150812862	1246	Valley Life Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	3737 West Walnut Ave.	Visalia	93277	Tulare County	Valley Life Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 625-8527	662	40	16.3	30.7%	300 (45.3%)	7 (1.1%)	298 (45.0%)	14 (2.1%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	40 (6.0%)								46.9	40.3	1451	205
061336009815	1247	B. Gale Wilson Middle	Public	K-8	3301 Cherry Hills Ct.	Fairfield	94534	Solano County	Fairfield-Suisun Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 421-4225	568	26	21.6	35.9%	108 (19.0%)	72 (12.7%)	268 (47.2%)	49 (8.6%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.9%)	66 (11.6%)	$5,669							46.9	41.4	1415	168
063276014252	1248	Rio del Sol	Public	K-8	3001 North Ventura Rd.	Oxnard	93036	Ventura County	Rio Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 307-0080	804	34	23.7	36.6%	121 (15.0%)	20 (2.5%)	517 (64.3%)	91 (11.3%)	2 (0.2%)	3 (0.4%)	49 (6.1%)								46.9	53.2	1077	171
062664007575	1249	American Canyon Middle	Public	6-8	300 Benton Way	American Canyon	94589	Solano County	Napa Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 259-8592	1,007	40	25	59.5%	119 (11.8%)	70 (7.0%)	411 (40.8%)	303 (30.1%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.5%)	97 (9.6%)	$5,784							46.8	49.7	1174	75
062847004415	1249	Vineyard Elementary	Public	K-8	1500 East Sixth St.	Ontario	91764	San Bernardino County	Ontario-Montclair	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 984-2306	629	26	24.1	84.3%	6 (1.0%)	16 (2.5%)	573 (91.1%)	16 (2.5%)	9 (1.4%)	8 (1.3%)	1 (0.2%)	$6,147							46.8	54.7	1040	209

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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

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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