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)
060813000787	1981	Mae Hensley Junior High	Public	7-8	1806 Moffet Rd.	Ceres	95307	Stanislaus County	Ceres Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 556-1820	648	31	21.2	86.9%	70 (10.8%)	19 (2.9%)	521 (80.4%)	25 (3.9%)	2 (0.3%)	4 (0.6%)	7 (1.1%)	$8,693							26.3	24	2100	119
069113511725	1982	March Middle	Public	6-8	15800 Indian Ave.	Moreno Valley	92551	Riverside County	Val Verde Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 490-0430	758	36	20.9	88.3%	30 (4.0%)	108 (14.2%)	572 (75.5%)	22 (2.9%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (3.0%)	$12,224							26.3	28.6	1871	111
061905002304	1983	Johnstonville Elementary	Public	K-8	704-795 Bangham Ln.	Susanville	96130	Lassen County	Johnstonville Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 257-2471	198	8	24.7	57.1%	156 (78.8%)	2 (1.0%)	27 (13.6%)	2 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (5.6%)	$10,064							26.2	27	1954	29
063384006327	1984	Capital City Independent Study	Public, Alternative	K-12	7222 24th St.	Sacramento	95823	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-5020	614	29	21	81.6%	57 (9.3%)	101 (16.4%)	278 (45.3%)	111 (18.1%)	2 (0.3%)	12 (2.0%)	52 (8.5%)	$8,748							26.1	25.6	2020	36
060006404869	1985	Bartlett Middle	Public	7-8	335 North G St.	Porterville	93257	Tulare County	Porterville Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 782-7100	430	27	15.8	94.2%	22 (5.1%)	6 (1.4%)	389 (90.5%)	6 (1.4%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.9%)	2 (0.5%)	$5,496							26.1	25.1	2043	58
060239807165	1986	Options for Youth San Gabriel	Public, Charter	7-12	215 South Mission Dr.	San Gabriel	91776	Los Angeles County	Options for Youth San Gabriel District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 282-0390	341	14	24.4	75.7%	53 (15.5%)	27 (7.9%)	235 (68.9%)	10 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (4.4%)								26.1	25.9	2002	16
062720004102	1987	Yolo Junior High	Public	6-8	901 Hoyer Rd.	Newman	95360	Stanislaus County	Newman-Crows Landing Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 862-2984	696	39	17.9	61.5%	86 (12.4%)	20 (2.9%)	569 (81.8%)	8 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (1.9%)	$6,246							26.1	25.5	2022	35
064221006920	1988	Westside Elementary	Public	K-8	19191 West Excelsior Ave.	Five Points	93624	Fresno County	Westside Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 884-2492	136	8	18.1	98.5%	2 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	133 (97.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.7%)	$15,345							26	27.9	1916	72
062271013108	1989	San Fernando Institute of Applied Media	Public	6-8	130 North Brand Blvd.	San Fernando	91340	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 837-5455	360	21	17.3	94.2%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$9,765							26	27.7	1924	65
060231305058	1990	Excelsior Charter	Public, Charter	7-12	18422 Bear Valley Rd. Bldg. 11	Victorville	92395	San Bernardino County	Excelsior Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 245-4262	2,180	84	25.8	63.1%	559 (25.6%)	209 (9.6%)	1,252 (57.4%)	30 (1.4%)	10 (0.5%)	2 (0.1%)	104 (4.8%)								26	24.2	2092	102

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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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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