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)
060669000593	361	Butteville Elementary	Public	K-8	24512 Edgewood Rd.	Weed	96094	Siskiyou County	Butteville Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 938-2255	166	10	16.1	42.2%	126 (75.9%)	1 (0.6%)	23 (13.9%)	2 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (8.4%)								86.2	53.9	1061	700
063697005069	362	Heritage	Public	K-8	9542 Wilson Ranch Rd.	Phelan	92371	San Bernardino County	Snowline Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 868-2422	523	23	22.2	52.6%	199 (38.0%)	9 (1.7%)	210 (40.2%)	19 (3.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	85 (16.3%)	$7,097							86.2	83.7	400	38
060003612523	363	Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	3700 Del Paso Rd.	Sacramento	95834	Sacramento County	Natomas Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 567-5740	513	23	22.2	38.2%	71 (13.8%)	28 (5.5%)	110 (21.4%)	257 (50.1%)	3 (0.6%)	9 (1.8%)	35 (6.8%)	$8,741							86.2	81.5	452	89
060183112751	364	Gilroy Prep (a Navigator School)	Public, Charter	K-8	277 IOOF Ave.	Gilroy	95020	Santa Clara County	Gilroy Prep (a Navigator School) District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 337-5445	544	20	27.4	37.9%	82 (15.1%)	10 (1.8%)	348 (64.0%)	81 (14.9%)	3 (0.6%)	3 (0.6%)	17 (3.1%)								86.1	89.2	293	71
061569001980	365	Grant Elementary	Public	K-8	8835 Swasey Dr.	Redding	96001	Shasta County	Grant Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 243-0561	643	33	19.3	18.4%	499 (77.6%)	1 (0.2%)	65 (10.1%)	21 (3.3%)	13 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (6.8%)	$10,560							86.1	91.8	243	122
062805004275	366	Hillcrest	Public	K-8	30 Marguerite Dr.	Oakland	94618	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-5127	345	16	21.1	14.5%	145 (42.0%)	28 (8.1%)	35 (10.1%)	53 (15.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	84 (24.3%)	$5,430							86.1	94.8	161	205
063360013046	367	Barbara Chilton Middle	Public	6-8	4501 Bob Doyle Dr.	Roseville	95747	Placer County	Roseville City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 771-1870	1,204	49	24.6	41.2%	521 (43.3%)	30 (2.5%)	220 (18.3%)	316 (26.2%)	2 (0.2%)	4 (0.3%)	110 (9.1%)								86.1	91	258	109
062250002762	368	Tincher Preparatory	Public	K-8	1701 Petaluma Ave.	Long Beach	90815	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 493-2636	813	33	24.2	32.3%	227 (27.9%)	78 (9.6%)	322 (39.6%)	102 (12.5%)	2 (0.2%)	7 (0.9%)	75 (9.2%)	$8,965							85.9	85.6	360	8
064023010687	369	Sunridge Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	7285 Hayden Ave.	Sebastopol	95472	Sonoma County	Twin Hills Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 824-2844	243	10	24.3	34.2%	193 (79.4%)	2 (0.8%)	23 (9.5%)	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (8.2%)	$8,350							85.8	81.1	462	93
060015310943	370	Ramona Elementary	Public	K-8	509 West Norwood Pl.	Alhambra	91803	Los Angeles County	Alhambra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 943-3660	701	29	23.8	60.5%	11 (1.6%)	3 (0.4%)	291 (41.5%)	380 (54.2%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (2.1%)	$11,583							85.8	88.8	311	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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

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