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)
060141013781	171	Altamont Elementary	Public	K-8	452 West Saint Francis Ave.	Mountain House	95391	San Joaquin County	Lammersville Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 836-7240	701	30	23.6	19.0%	118 (16.8%)	40 (5.7%)	99 (14.1%)	367 (52.4%)	1 (0.1%)	3 (0.4%)	73 (10.4%)								94.5	92.6	217	46
060003204955	172	Parras (Nick G.) Middle	Public	6-8	200 North Lucia	Redondo Beach	90277	Los Angeles County	Redondo Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 798-8616	1,049	37	28.5	13.5%	500 (47.7%)	30 (2.9%)	219 (20.9%)	140 (13.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	159 (15.2%)	$9,142							94.4	95.4	139	33
061062001178	173	Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior High	Public	7-9	1220 Drexel Dr.	Davis	95616	Yolo County	Davis Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 757-5445	596	31	19.1	18.1%	266 (44.6%)	20 (3.4%)	91 (15.3%)	157 (26.3%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (8.2%)								94.4	92.9	211	38
060750008606	174	Aviara Oaks Middle	Public	6-8	6880 Ambrosia Ln.	Carlsbad	92011	San Diego County	Carlsbad Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 331-6100	1,021	46	22.4	15.7%	596 (58.4%)	12 (1.2%)	215 (21.1%)	90 (8.8%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	104 (10.2%)	$6,407							94.3	96.5	108	66
062037002455	175	Thurston Middle	Public	6-8	2100 Park Ave.	Laguna Beach	92651	Orange County	Laguna Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 497-7785	537	34	15.9	21.0%	397 (73.9%)	1 (0.2%)	65 (12.1%)	24 (4.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	50 (9.3%)	$17,146							94.2	96.2	116	59
064015007201	176	Tustin Connect	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1151 San Juan St.	Tustin	92780	Orange County	Tustin Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(714) 430-2052	303	9	33.9	47.2%	112 (37.0%)	10 (3.3%)	103 (34.0%)	53 (17.5%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (6.9%)	$11,985							94.2	82.6	421	245
060243913939	177	The New School of San Francisco	Public, Charter	K-7	940 Filbert St	San Francisco	94133	San Francisco County	The New School of San Francisco District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 401-6063	439	22	19.9	33.7%	154 (35.1%)	25 (5.7%)	165 (37.6%)	49 (11.2%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	42 (9.6%)								94.2	88.3	320	143
060177000006	178	Bay Farm	Public	K-8	200 Aughinbaugh Way	Alameda	94502	Alameda County	Alameda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 748-4010	568	25	22.3	19.4%	154 (27.1%)	13 (2.3%)	59 (10.4%)	205 (36.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	135 (23.8%)	$14,421							94.1	88.7	312	134
062865004426	179	El Rancho Charter	Public, Charter	7-8	181 South Del Giorgio Rd.	Anaheim	92808	Orange County	Orange Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 997-6238	1,108	39	28.2	29.8%	455 (41.1%)	20 (1.8%)	286 (25.8%)	268 (24.2%)	4 (0.4%)	3 (0.3%)	70 (6.3%)	$8,340							94.1	95.7	131	48
063384005244	180	Genevieve Didion	Public	K-8	6490 Harmon Dr.	Sacramento	95831	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-4575	586	23	25.2	30.7%	128 (21.8%)	14 (2.4%)	137 (23.4%)	189 (32.3%)	4 (0.7%)	4 (0.7%)	110 (18.8%)	$6,290							94.1	91.9	239	59

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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:

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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