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)
062513003754	2481	Tuolumne Elementary	Public	K-7	707 Herndon Rd.	Modesto	95351	Stanislaus County	Modesto City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 574-8442	625	28	22.5	95.4%	19 (3.0%)	5 (0.8%)	574 (91.8%)	6 (1.0%)	4 (0.6%)	3 (0.5%)	14 (2.2%)	$12,886							14.8	12.7	2607	126
060182612511	2482	Aspire Vanguard College Preparatory Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	819 Sunset Ave.	Modesto	95351	Stanislaus County	Aspire Vanguard College Preparatory Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 521-3010	596	20	30.3	72.7%	45 (7.6%)	16 (2.7%)	459 (77.0%)	30 (5.0%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	43 (7.2%)								14.8	20.4	2248	234
060152312375	2483	Encore Junior/Senior High School for the Perf and Visual Arts	Public, Charter	7-12	16955 Lemon St.	Hesperia	92345	San Bernardino County	Encore Junior/Senior High School for the Perf and Visual Ar	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 956-2632	630	35	18.1	51.7%	141 (22.4%)	111 (17.6%)	341 (54.1%)	9 (1.4%)	7 (1.1%)	3 (0.5%)	17 (2.7%)								14.8	21.2	2215	268
062922004504	2484	Fremont Academy of Environmental Science & Innovative Design	Public	6-8	1130 North M St.	Oxnard	93030	Ventura County	Oxnard	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 385-1539	734	43	17.1	87.3%	35 (4.8%)	8 (1.1%)	662 (90.2%)	20 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	7 (1.0%)	$3,761							14.6	14.1	2555	71
064347007033	2485	Gray Avenue Middle	Public	6-8	808 Gray Ave.	Yuba City	95991	Sutter County	Yuba City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 822-5240	688	36	19.3	89.2%	106 (15.4%)	21 (3.1%)	455 (66.1%)	57 (8.3%)	4 (0.6%)	3 (0.4%)	42 (6.1%)	$8,619							14.6	15.7	2483	2
063801011783	2486	Alexander Hamilton Elementary	Public	K-8	2245 East 11th St.	Stockton	95206	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7395	719	30	23.7	85.1%	11 (1.5%)	92 (12.8%)	540 (75.1%)	43 (6.0%)	4 (0.6%)	3 (0.4%)	26 (3.6%)	$6,656							14.5	10.6	2688	202
064356011215	2487	Green Valley Independent Study	Public, Virtual	K-8	35948 Susan St.	Yucaipa	92399	San Bernardino County	Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(909) 790-8580	82	3	27.3	68.3%	35 (42.7%)	1 (1.2%)	40 (48.8%)	1 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (6.1%)	$10,943							14.4	38.5	1510	977
060245914335	2488	Aurum Preparatory Academy	Public, Charter	6-8	1034 66th Ave.	Oakland	94621	Alameda County	Aurum Preparatory Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 763-8974	146	9	17.1	85.6%	2 (1.4%)	59 (40.4%)	82 (56.2%)	2 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.7%)								14.4	30.4	1804	684
063801006422	2489	Madison Elementary	Public	K-8	2939 Mission Rd.	Stockton	95204	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7240	659	28	23.1	78.5%	57 (8.6%)	72 (10.9%)	428 (64.9%)	62 (9.4%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	35 (5.3%)	$9,358							14.4	19	2327	162
060001409077	2490	Hesperia Junior High	Public	7-8	10275 Cypress Ave.	Hesperia	92345	San Bernardino County	Hesperia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 244-9386	1,164	50	23.3	65.7%	108 (9.3%)	76 (6.5%)	944 (81.1%)	10 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (0.9%)	15 (1.3%)	$8,139							14.4	14.8	2519	29

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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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.