Best Middle Schools in California for Special Education Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in California!

Every year, the California Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Special Education students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

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 (Special Education vs All Students - 2024)
ID	Rank (of 1550)	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	Statewide Rank Percentile (Special Education)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Special Education)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)
061029001138	1	John F. Kennedy Middle	Public	6-8	821 Bubb Rd.	Cupertino	95014	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 253-1525	930	41	22.8	12.0%	90 (9.7%)	3 (0.3%)	33 (3.5%)	746 (80.2%)	1 (0.1%)	3 (0.3%)	53 (5.7%)	$7,041							99.9%	99.7%	0.22%
063033004732	2	Piedmont Middle	Public	6-8	740 Magnolia Ave.	Piedmont	94611	Alameda County	Piedmont City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 594-2668	512	31	16.6	2.1%	257 (50.2%)	7 (1.4%)	54 (10.5%)	90 (17.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	103 (20.1%)	$11,393							99.9%	98.7%	1.20%
060228408546	3	Ocsa	Public, Charter	7-12	1010 North Main St.	Santa Ana	92701	Orange County	OCSA District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 560-9000	2,252	133	16.9	12.4%	596 (26.5%)	23 (1.0%)	481 (21.4%)	758 (33.7%)	1 (0.0%)	4 (0.2%)	360 (16.0%)								99.8%	97.3%	2.51%
062013002408	4	La Canada High	Public	7-12	4463 Oak Grove Dr.	La Canada	91011	Los Angeles County	La Canada Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 952-4205	1,993	83	24.1	5.3%	920 (46.2%)	12 (0.6%)	255 (12.8%)	604 (30.3%)	2 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	197 (9.9%)	$11,158							99.7%	99.5%	0.21%
068450007375	5	Sierra Vista Middle	Public	7-8	2 Liberty	Irvine	92620	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6600	1,126	42	27.1	16.7%	195 (17.3%)	23 (2.0%)	99 (8.8%)	708 (62.9%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.4%)	95 (8.4%)	$5,515							99.7%	97.7%	1.95%
061029001142	6	Joaquin Miller Middle	Public	6-8	6151 Rainbow Dr.	San Jose	95129	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 252-3755	1,078	50	21.6	12.0%	53 (4.9%)	5 (0.5%)	27 (2.5%)	921 (85.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	69 (6.4%)	$7,775							99.6%	99.8%	0.17%
063432005527	7	Muirlands Middle	Public	6-8	1056 Nautilus St.	La Jolla	92037	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 459-4211	696	29	23.6	25.1%	405 (58.2%)	3 (0.4%)	156 (22.4%)	56 (8.0%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	73 (10.5%)	$7,702							99.5%	95.8%	3.80%
063153002667	8	Mesa Verde Middle	Public	6-8	8375 Entreken Way	San Diego	92129	San Diego County	Poway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 538-5478	1,040	42	24.9	9.5%	350 (33.7%)	10 (1.0%)	112 (10.8%)	432 (41.5%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	132 (12.7%)	$6,734							99.5%	98.2%	1.28%
062886004472	9	Orinda Intermediate	Public	6-8	80 Ivy Dr.	Orinda	94563	Contra Costa County	Orinda Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 258-3090	832	45	18.3	3.4%	485 (58.3%)	8 (1.0%)	68 (8.2%)	153 (18.4%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	113 (13.6%)	$8,046							99.4%	99.1%	0.36%
063438013861	10	Pacific Trails Middle	Public	7-8	5975 Village Center Loop Rd.	San Diego	92130	San Diego County	San Dieguito Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 350-0253	919	35	25.9	10.3%	337 (36.7%)	12 (1.3%)	90 (9.8%)	384 (41.8%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	89 (9.7%)	$5,633							99.4%	99.1%	0.26%

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 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

State-Administered Standardized Tests: 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.