Best Middle Schools in California

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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)
061605003105	961	Leon H. Ollivier Middle	Public	6-8	7310 Monitor St.	Bakersfield	93307	Kern County	Greenfield Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 837-6120	1,008	48	20.9	91.6%	36 (3.6%)	50 (5.0%)	892 (88.5%)	15 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	14 (1.4%)	$7,047							56.9	63.2	816	145
064251003268	962	La Mesa Junior High	Public	7-8	26623 May Way	Santa Clarita	91351	Los Angeles County	William S. Hart Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 250-0022	1,014	54	18.7	39.3%	245 (24.2%)	98 (9.7%)	537 (53.0%)	107 (10.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	25 (2.5%)	$11,270							56.8	58.5	945	17
062772012874	963	San Jose Middle	Public	6-8	1000 Sunset Pkwy.	Novato	94949	Marin County	Novato Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 883-7831	500	24	20.9	42.6%	152 (30.4%)	11 (2.2%)	257 (51.4%)	48 (9.6%)	5 (1.0%)	1 (0.2%)	25 (5.0%)	$6,567							56.8	61.9	851	112
060162000012	964	Ross (Faye) Middle	Public	7-8	17707 Elaine Ave.	Artesia	90701	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 229-7785	522	24	21.3	70.3%	36 (6.9%)	38 (7.3%)	317 (60.7%)	100 (19.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	28 (5.4%)	$6,879							56.8	63.4	810	154
062604003899	965	Sisson	Public	4-8	601 East Alma St.	Mount Shasta	96067	Siskiyou County	Mt. Shasta Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 926-3846	270	14	19.6	44.1%	220 (81.5%)	7 (2.6%)	29 (10.7%)	4 (1.5%)	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.7%)	7 (2.6%)	$10,192							56.8	59.8	914	51
060945008635	966	Mountain View Middle	Public	5-8	675 Shasta View Dr.	Redding	96003	Shasta County	Columbia Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 221-5224	314	18	17.7	45.2%	225 (71.7%)	4 (1.3%)	41 (13.1%)	7 (2.2%)	10 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (8.3%)	$7,919							56.8	66.2	760	206
060342004672	967	Peggy Heller Elementary	Public	K-8	201 Lake View Dr.	Atwater	95301	Merced County	Atwater Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 357-6517	707	32	22.1	64.2%	151 (21.4%)	5 (0.7%)	498 (70.4%)	31 (4.4%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (2.7%)	$3,809							56.7	63.9	796	171
060232311139	968	Learning Choice Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	4635 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.	San Diego	92117	San Diego County	Learning Choice Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 536-8388	170	11	15	30.0%	68 (40.0%)	7 (4.1%)	62 (36.5%)	12 (7.1%)	2 (1.2%)	4 (2.4%)	15 (8.8%)								56.7	59.7	917	51
062664004013	969	Browns Valley Elementary	Public	K-7	1001 Buhman Ave.	Napa	94558	Napa County	Napa Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 253-3761	533	20	26.5	39.4%	321 (60.2%)	1 (0.2%)	166 (31.1%)	3 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (7.5%)	$5,893							56.7			(n/a)
062949004536	970	Aptos Junior High	Public	7-8	1001 Huntington Dr.	Aptos	95003	Santa Cruz County	Pajaro Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 688-3234	594	27	22.3	51.9%	246 (41.4%)	3 (0.5%)	310 (52.2%)	12 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	22 (3.7%)								56.7	60.1	898	72

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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.