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)
060193606035	581	Novato Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	940 C St.	Novato	94949	Marin County	Novato Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 883-4254	266	10	26.6	11.7%	166 (62.4%)	2 (0.8%)	38 (14.3%)	23 (8.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	36 (13.5%)								75.2	87.4	332	249
064158010715	582	Bridgeway Island Elementary	Public	K-8	3255 Half Moon Bay Cir.	West Sacramento	95691	Yolo County	Washington Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 375-7778	1,063	44	23.9	40.8%	361 (34.0%)	57 (5.4%)	261 (24.6%)	249 (23.4%)	6 (0.6%)	12 (1.1%)	115 (10.8%)	$6,060							75.2	80.3	483	99
063384010040	583	Leonardo Da Vinci	Public	K-8	4701 Joaquin Way	Sacramento	95822	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-4635	797	36	22.4	34.8%	293 (36.8%)	44 (5.5%)	299 (37.5%)	68 (8.5%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.4%)	88 (11.0%)	$6,613							75.2	80.8	471	112
060149008724	584	CHIME Institute's Schwarzenegger Community	Public, Charter	K-8	19722 Collier St.	Woodland Hills	91364	Los Angeles County	CHIME Institute's Schwarzenegger Community District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 346-5100	741	33	22.6	22.3%	487 (65.7%)	24 (3.2%)	154 (20.8%)	21 (2.8%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (7.0%)								75.2	70.7	672	88
061455001706	585	Baird Middle	Public	5-8	5500 North Maroa Ave.	Fresno	93704	Fresno County	Fresno Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 451-4310	598	29	20.6	44.1%	181 (30.3%)	31 (5.2%)	324 (54.2%)	25 (4.2%)	3 (0.5%)	7 (1.2%)	27 (4.5%)	$8,606							75.2	65.7	770	185
060216810500	586	Coastal Grove Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	1897 S St.	Arcata	95521	Humboldt County	Coastal Grove Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 825-8804	227	15	15.2	63.4%	171 (75.3%)	2 (0.9%)	17 (7.5%)	2 (0.9%)	6 (2.6%)	2 (0.9%)	25 (11.0%)								75.1	59.6	921	335
061336001522	587	Green Valley Middle	Public	6-8	1350 Gold Hill Rd.	Fairfield	94534	Solano County	Fairfield-Suisun Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 646-7000	830	34	24.7	18.9%	182 (21.9%)	87 (10.5%)	164 (19.8%)	273 (32.9%)	1 (0.1%)	5 (0.6%)	118 (14.2%)	$5,299							75	78.2	529	58
061149013755	588	Creekview Ranch	Public	K-8	8779 Cook Riolo Rd.	Roseville	95747	Placer County	Dry Creek Joint Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 770-8845	758	37	20.4	37.1%	333 (43.9%)	29 (3.8%)	204 (26.9%)	106 (14.0%)	2 (0.3%)	5 (0.7%)	78 (10.3%)	$8,028							75	72.5	626	38
062271003117	589	Thomas Starr King Middle School Film and Media Magnet	Public	6-8	4201 Fountain Ave.	Los Angeles	90029	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 644-6700	1,722	90	19.1	72.5%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,660							75	73.1	618	29
063864011269	590	Eastlake Middle	Public	7-8	900 Duncan Ranch Rd.	Chula Vista	91914	San Diego County	Sweetwater Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 591-4000	1,611	58	27.9	26.1%	257 (16.0%)	107 (6.6%)	784 (48.7%)	290 (18.0%)	10 (0.6%)	4 (0.2%)	159 (9.9%)	$5,991							75	77.9	532	58

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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

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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