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)
064214011705	331	Twelve Bridges Middle	Public	6-8	770 Westview Dr.	Lincoln	95648	Placer County	Western Placer Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 434-5270	882	36	24.8	16.3%	570 (64.6%)	17 (1.9%)	145 (16.4%)	76 (8.6%)	3 (0.3%)	9 (1.0%)	62 (7.0%)	$10,714							87.5	86.8	344	13
060175911467	332	University Preparatory	Public, Charter	6-12	2200 Eureka Way	Redding	96001	Shasta County	University Preparatory District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 245-2790	1,013	47	21.7	32.4%	698 (68.9%)	6 (0.6%)	124 (12.2%)	79 (7.8%)	11 (1.1%)	3 (0.3%)	92 (9.1%)								87.5	93.7	184	148
060846008808	333	Robert O. Townsend Junior High	Public	7-8	15359 Ilex Dr.	Chino Hills	91709	San Bernardino County	Chino Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 591-2161	879	37	23.8	30.3%	157 (17.9%)	29 (3.3%)	389 (44.3%)	279 (31.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (2.7%)	$9,352							87.5	88.1	325	8
060015310946	334	Ynez Elementary	Public	K-8	120 South Ynez Ave.	Monterey Park	91754	Los Angeles County	Alhambra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 570-6260	679	30	22.4	72.2%	9 (1.3%)	1 (0.1%)	144 (21.2%)	508 (74.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (2.5%)	$11,247							87.5	88.6	316	18
062781004216	335	Herman (Leonard) Intermediate	Public	5-8	5955 Blossom Ave.	San Jose	95123	Santa Clara County	Oak Grove Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 226-1886	729	32	22.7	33.7%	138 (18.9%)	16 (2.2%)	283 (38.8%)	216 (29.6%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.0%)	68 (9.3%)	$11,499							87.4	90.9	261	74
064023006653	336	Twin Hills Charter Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	1685 Watertrough Rd.	Sebastopol	95472	Sonoma County	Twin Hills Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 823-7446	204	13	15.9	27.0%	130 (63.7%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (20.6%)	5 (2.5%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (11.3%)	$8,897							87.4	90.6	270	66
063432005275	337	Language Academy	Public	K-8	4961 64th St.	San Diego	92115	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 287-1182	987	45	21.9	43.2%	241 (24.4%)	125 (12.7%)	517 (52.4%)	15 (1.5%)	3 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	85 (8.6%)	$7,060							87.3	87.7	328	9
062937004531	338	Pacific Grove Middle	Public	6-8	835 Forest Ave.	Pacific Grove	93950	Monterey County	Pacific Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 646-6568	420	25	16.5	18.3%	237 (56.4%)	7 (1.7%)	83 (19.8%)	65 (15.5%)	8 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (4.5%)	$10,165							87.2	89.3	291	47
061803002215	339	Ethel Dwyer Middle	Public	6-8	1502 Palm Ave.	Huntington Beach	92648	Orange County	Huntington Beach City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 536-7507	995	41	24.1	27.3%	485 (48.7%)	3 (0.3%)	246 (24.7%)	136 (13.7%)	1 (0.1%)	6 (0.6%)	117 (11.8%)	$5,803							87.1	84.7	381	42
060483000472	340	Beverly Vista Middle	Public	6-8	200 South Elm Dr.	Beverly Hills	90212	Los Angeles County	Beverly Hills Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 229-3665	769	54	14.1	17.2%	509 (66.2%)	26 (3.4%)	68 (8.8%)	93 (12.1%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.7%)	68 (8.8%)	$8,507							87	89.1	295	45

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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

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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