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)
060297000227	181	Richard Henry Dana Middle	Public	6-8	1401 South First Ave.	Arcadia	91006	Los Angeles County	Arcadia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 821-8361	622	29	21.7	33.8%	42 (6.8%)	7 (1.1%)	113 (18.2%)	434 (69.8%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	24 (3.9%)	$11,378							94.1	94.5	165	16
060474000443	182	Martin Luther King Middle	Public	6-8	1781 Rose St.	Berkeley	94703	Alameda County	Berkeley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 644-6280	871	49	17.6	20.1%	416 (47.8%)	79 (9.1%)	132 (15.2%)	88 (10.1%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.6%)	150 (17.2%)	$8,849							94	95	153	29
061692012464	183	Western Center Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	2345 Searl Pkwy.	Hemet	92543	Riverside County	Hemet Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 766-9030	746	30	25	56.3%	283 (37.9%)	34 (4.6%)	313 (42.0%)	66 (8.8%)	7 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (5.6%)	$9,989							94	96.2	117	66
063231008948	184	Marina Village Middle	Public	6-8	1901 Francisco Dr.	El Dorado Hills	95762	El Dorado County	Rescue Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 933-3993	736	36	20.2	8.3%	496 (67.4%)	10 (1.4%)	98 (13.3%)	89 (12.1%)	3 (0.4%)	3 (0.4%)	37 (5.0%)	$8,843							94	93.3	193	9
062256002773	185	Placer Elementary	Public	K-8	8650 Horseshoe Bar Rd.	Loomis	95650	Placer County	Loomis Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 652-1830	533	22	24.1	8.8%	431 (80.9%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (10.5%)	12 (2.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (6.0%)	$6,264							94	95.5	135	50
063099004806	186	Santa Rosa Technology Magnet	Public	K-8	13282 Santa Rosa Rd.	Camarillo	93012	Ventura County	Pleasant Valley	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 383-5355	484	20	23.6	14.3%	261 (53.9%)	13 (2.7%)	96 (19.8%)	69 (14.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (9.3%)	$7,602							94	96.3	110	76
064128006840	187	Suzanne Middle	Public	6-8	525 Suzanne Rd.	Walnut	91789	Los Angeles County	Walnut Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 594-1657	1,120	44	25.2	25.2%	56 (5.0%)	10 (0.9%)	300 (26.8%)	699 (62.4%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.4%)	51 (4.6%)	$4,830							94	93.9	179	8
064125013866	188	Tice Creek	Public	K-8	1847 Newell Ave.	Walnut Creek	94595	Contra Costa County	Walnut Creek Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 746-5515	424	20	21.3	3.5%	211 (49.8%)	2 (0.5%)	47 (11.1%)	83 (19.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	80 (18.9%)	$6,320							94	92.3	227	39
062271003225	189	Alfred B. Nobel Charter Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	9950 Tampa Ave.	Northridge	91324	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 773-4700	1,940	82	23.7	48.8%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$7,851							93.8	89.1	296	107
062235002672	190	C. T. English Middle	Public	6-8	23800 Summit Rd.	Los Gatos	95033	Santa Clara County	Loma Prieta Joint Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 353-1123	167	8	20.8	7.2%	116 (69.5%)	1 (0.6%)	24 (14.4%)	5 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (12.6%)	$12,339							93.7	94.9	158	32

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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