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)
061336011891	2081	Weir Preparatory Academy	Public	K-8	1975 Pennsylvania Ave.	Fairfield	94533	Solano County	Fairfield-Suisun Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 399-3300	706	28	25.6	80.6%	38 (5.4%)	125 (17.7%)	423 (59.9%)	54 (7.6%)	2 (0.3%)	14 (2.0%)	50 (7.1%)	$5,840							24	24.8	2065	16
062271003156	2082	James Madison Middle	Public	6-8	13000 Hart St.	North Hollywood	91605	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 255-5200	1,284	65	19.7	92.9%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$9,534							24	23	2140	58
062088002508	2083	Linda Verde Elementary	Public	K-8	44924 North Fifth St. East	Lancaster	93535	Los Angeles County	Lancaster Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 942-0431	657	27	24.2	88.4%	20 (3.0%)	71 (10.8%)	559 (85.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.6%)	$8,430							23.9	23.3	2132	49
062805012055	2084	Greenleaf	Public	K-8	6328 East 17th St.	Oakland	94621	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-3112	618	29	21.6	92.7%	10 (1.6%)	28 (4.5%)	557 (90.1%)	7 (1.1%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	13 (2.1%)	$5,524							23.9	22.3	2165	81
061437001653	2085	Sylvandale Middle	Public	7-8	653 Sylvandale Ave.	San Jose	95111	Santa Clara County	Franklin-McKinley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 363-5700	371	20	18.9	53.6%	4 (1.1%)	1 (0.3%)	236 (63.6%)	122 (32.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.8%)	5 (1.3%)								23.9	24.2	2093	8
062271012524	2086	UCLA Community K-12	Public, Alternative	K-12	700 South Mariposa Ave.	Los Angeles	90005	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 480-3750	941	51	18.4	95.3%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$9,362							23.9	23.4	2128	42
060150914089	2087	Altus Schools South Bay	Public, Charter	7-12	3252 Bonita Rd.	Chula Vista	91910	San Diego County	Altus Schools South Bay District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 678-2020	369	11	34.1	73.2%	18 (4.9%)	13 (3.5%)	317 (85.9%)	11 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	7 (1.9%)								23.9	25.5	2023	64
063255005045	2088	Montalvin Manor Elementary	Public	K-8	300 Christine Dr.	San Pablo	94806	Contra Costa County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 231-1405	475	21	22.5	49.5%	25 (5.3%)	58 (12.2%)	320 (67.4%)	58 (12.2%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	11 (2.3%)	$6,450							23.9	28.8	1867	221
060962000980	2089	Emerson Elementary	Public	K-8	1011 East Caldwell St.	Compton	90221	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 898-6170	580	24	24.6	64.7%	2 (0.3%)	100 (17.2%)	461 (79.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.6%)	7 (1.2%)								23.8	30.5	1798	291
062361004004	2090	Joshua Cowell Elementary	Public	K-8	740 Pestana Ave.	Manteca	95336	San Joaquin County	Manteca Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 858-7310	709	29	24	55.9%	136 (19.2%)	33 (4.7%)	353 (49.8%)	136 (19.2%)	5 (0.7%)	15 (2.1%)	31 (4.4%)	$5,523							23.8	29.1	1850	240

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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.