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)
061350001540	1331	James E. Potter Intermediate	Public	7-8	1743 Reche Rd.	Fallbrook	92028	San Diego County	Fallbrook Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 731-4150	729	39	18.6	83.5%	124 (17.0%)	7 (1.0%)	558 (76.5%)	14 (1.9%)	3 (0.4%)	2 (0.3%)	21 (2.9%)	$6,935							44.2	40.3	1448	117
060004402141	1332	Healdsburg Junior High	Public	6-8	315 Grant St.	Healdsburg	95448	Sonoma County	Healdsburg Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 431-3410	285	17	16.3	58.6%	82 (28.8%)	0 (0.0%)	197 (69.1%)	3 (1.1%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.7%)	$8,236							44.1	53.4	1074	258
061281001442	1333	Parsons Junior High	Public	6-8	750 Hartnell Ave.	Redding	96002	Shasta County	Enterprise Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 224-4190	483	27	18.1	83.6%	216 (44.7%)	14 (2.9%)	113 (23.4%)	57 (11.8%)	10 (2.1%)	6 (1.2%)	67 (13.9%)	$8,281							44.1	51.2	1128	205
061284001447	1334	El Portal Middle	Public	6-8	805 First St.	Escalon	95320	San Joaquin County	Escalon Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 838-7095	588	28	21.1	44.4%	257 (43.7%)	6 (1.0%)	293 (49.8%)	10 (1.7%)	3 (0.5%)	4 (0.7%)	15 (2.6%)								44.1	48.8	1205	129
062271013187	1335	Walnut Park Mid A School of Soc Just and Service Learning	Public	6-8	7500 Marbrisa Ave.	Walnut Park	90255	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 277-2600	389	23	17	97.7%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,201							44	45.7	1292	43
060004807412	1336	Daniel Lewis Middle	Public	6-8	900 Creston Rd.	Paso Robles	93446	San Luis Obispo County	Paso Robles Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 769-1450	665	33	20.3	64.1%	273 (41.1%)	7 (1.1%)	356 (53.5%)	5 (0.8%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (3.3%)								44	48.3	1216	120
062778009962	1337	Mountain Shadows Middle	Public	7-8	30401 Reservoir Ave.	Nuevo	92567	Riverside County	Nuview Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 928-3836	340	16	21	85.3%	39 (11.5%)	2 (0.6%)	288 (84.7%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	8 (2.4%)	$10,926							44	27.3	1941	604
060962000970	1338	Ralph Bunche Elementary	Public	K-8	16223 South Haskins Ln.	Carson	90746	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 898-6120	248	9	27.6	56.9%	1 (0.4%)	83 (33.5%)	161 (64.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.2%)								43.9	22.9	2143	805
062847004393	1339	De Anza Middle	Public	7-8	1450 South Sultana Ave.	Ontario	91761	San Bernardino County	Ontario-Montclair	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 986-8577	530	34	15.6	82.5%	11 (2.1%)	14 (2.6%)	494 (93.2%)	6 (1.1%)	4 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	$7,904							43.9	47.7	1233	106
062985004648	1340	Hollydale	Public	K-8	5511 Century Blvd.	South Gate	90280	Los Angeles County	Paramount Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 602-8016	802	37	21.6	88.5%	8 (1.0%)	4 (0.5%)	777 (96.9%)	8 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.6%)	$4,092							43.9	53.1	1081	259

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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

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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