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)
062259007306	241	Sharon Christa McAuliffe Middle	Public	6-8	4112 Cerritos Ave.	Los Alamitos	90720	Orange County	Los Alamitos Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 816-3320	1,004	41	24.7	18.3%	412 (41.0%)	27 (2.7%)	317 (31.6%)	146 (14.5%)	1 (0.1%)	7 (0.7%)	94 (9.4%)	$4,787							91.4	93.5	188	53
060015310940	242	Martha Baldwin Elementary	Public	K-8	900 South Almansor St.	Alhambra	91801	Los Angeles County	Alhambra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 943-3300	935	36	25.8	52.4%	11 (1.2%)	2 (0.2%)	293 (31.3%)	590 (63.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (4.2%)	$11,522							91.4	93.3	194	48
062712004093	243	Newcastle Elementary	Public	K-8	8951 Valley View Dr.	Newcastle	95658	Placer County	Newcastle Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 663-3307	151	11	14.3	25.2%	104 (68.9%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (20.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (10.6%)	$13,548							91.4	52.2	1103	860
060561000513	244	Ramona Middle	Public	6-8	3490 Ramona Ave.	San Dimas	91773	Los Angeles County	Bonita Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 971-8260	1,304	52	25.2	34.7%	297 (22.8%)	24 (1.8%)	721 (55.3%)	138 (10.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.2%)	120 (9.2%)								91.4	90.8	262	18
060190410870	245	Larchmont Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1265 North Fairfax Ave.	West Hollywood	90046	Los Angeles County	Larchmont Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 656-6418	1,620	71	22.8	47.8%	578 (35.7%)	71 (4.4%)	421 (26.0%)	368 (22.7%)	2 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	180 (11.1%)								91.3	79	514	269
068450014305	246	Cadence Park	Public	K-8	750 Benchmark	Irvine	92618	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 404-1300	924	35	26.3	19.2%	162 (17.5%)	22 (2.4%)	123 (13.3%)	494 (53.5%)	4 (0.4%)	6 (0.6%)	113 (12.2%)								91.2	89.7	285	39
063513005950	247	Los Cerros Middle	Public	6-8	968 Blemer Rd.	Danville	94526	Contra Costa County	San Ramon Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 855-6800	500	22	22.3	4.4%	330 (66.0%)	3 (0.6%)	51 (10.2%)	68 (13.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	47 (9.4%)	$6,487							91.2	92	237	10
060753000719	248	Carmel Middle	Public	6-8	4380 Carmel Valley Rd.	Carmel	93922	Monterey County	Carmel Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 624-2785	498	37	13.3	19.3%	309 (62.0%)	3 (0.6%)	99 (19.9%)	29 (5.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	57 (11.4%)	$16,568							91.2	93.5	186	62
060744007587	249	Bernice Ayer Middle	Public	6-8	1271 Sarmentoso	San Clemente	92673	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 366-9607	883	44	20.1	39.8%	497 (56.3%)	3 (0.3%)	305 (34.5%)	19 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (6.6%)	$9,933							91.2	92.2	232	17
063066004765	250	Kraemer Middle	Public	7-8	645 North Angelina Dr.	Placentia	92870	Orange County	Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 996-1551	954	37	25.5	52.1%	113 (11.8%)	8 (0.8%)	470 (49.3%)	329 (34.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	33 (3.5%)	$5,765							91.1	89.2	292	42

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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

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.