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)
063288005113	991	Ripona Elementary	Public	K-8	415 East Oregon St.	Ripon	95366	San Joaquin County	Ripon Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 599-4104	471	20	23	40.8%	146 (31.0%)	2 (0.4%)	267 (56.7%)	29 (6.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (5.5%)	$10,165							55.8	59.8	915	76
061203001332	992	De Anza Magnet	Public	K-8	1530 South Waterman Ave.	El Centro	92243	Imperial County	El Centro Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 352-9811	492	20	24.5	74.4%	8 (1.6%)	3 (0.6%)	478 (97.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$8,472							55.8	53.2	1078	86
063667006218	993	West Marin Elementary	Public	2-8	11550 Highway 1	Point Reyes Station	94956	Marin County	Shoreline Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 663-1014	119	7	17	63.9%	45 (37.8%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (58.0%)	2 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	2 (1.7%)								55.7	44.6	1322	329
063753006339	994	Alta Loma Middle	Public	6-8	116 Romney Ave.	South San Francisco	94080	San Mateo County	South San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 877-8797	649	36	18	35.6%	53 (8.2%)	7 (1.1%)	299 (46.1%)	236 (36.4%)	2 (0.3%)	12 (1.8%)	40 (6.2%)	$1,515							55.7	48.8	1203	209
064116006811	995	Willow Glen Elementary	Public	K-8	310 North Akers Rd.	Visalia	93291	Tulare County	Visalia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 730-7798	503	23	21.8	77.7%	75 (14.9%)	9 (1.8%)	382 (75.9%)	19 (3.8%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (3.2%)	$8,417							55.7	34	1665	670
061187001323	996	Antelope Elementary	Public	K-8	111527 Highway 395	Coleville	96107	Mono County	Eastern Sierra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 495-2231	122	6	19.7	40.2%	76 (62.3%)	2 (1.6%)	31 (25.4%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.7%)								55.6			(n/a)
060642000562	997	Buena Vista Elementary	Public	K-8	21660 Road 60	Tulare	93274	Tulare County	Buena Vista Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 686-2015	180	11	16.3	76.1%	47 (26.1%)	0 (0.0%)	130 (72.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.7%)	$11,627							55.5	32.2	1737	740
063522012993	998	Vista Del Mar	Public	6-8	4885 Del Sol Blvd.	San Diego	92154	San Diego County	San Ysidro Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 661-6753	531	27	19.4	38.2%	17 (3.2%)	33 (6.2%)	410 (77.2%)	48 (9.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (4.1%)	$7,605							55.5	48.9	1197	199
064245006937	999	Katherine Edwards Mid School STEAM & Dual Immersion Academy	Public	6-8	6812 South Norwalk Blvd.	Whittier	90606	Los Angeles County	Whittier City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 789-3115	894	41	22	80.8%	22 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	839 (93.8%)	8 (0.9%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	22 (2.5%)	$5,197							55.5	50.4	1154	155
062136011285	1000	Lemoore University Elementary Charter	Public, Charter	6-8	450 Marsh Dr.	Lemoore	93245	Kings County	Lemoore Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 924-6890	145	7	20.7	60.7%	54 (37.2%)	2 (1.4%)	73 (50.3%)	4 (2.8%)	4 (2.8%)	1 (0.7%)	7 (4.8%)	$9,177							55.4	64.2	791	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:

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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.