Best Middle Schools in Novato, CA

Novato, California, has two middle schools, both serving grades 6–8: Sinaloa Middle and San Jose Middle, in Novato Unified. In 2025–26, both schools reported results in English language arts (ELA), math and science. The most important finding is the consistent achievement gap: Sinaloa’s all-grades proficiency rates were 16 percentage points higher in ELA, 15 points higher in math and 13 points higher in science than San Jose’s.

Sinaloa stands out at the top, with 60% proficient in ELA, 49% in math and 46% in science; it was above state results by 10, 11 and 10 percentage points, respectively. San Jose is below the state in all three subjects, with 44% proficient in ELA, 35% in math and 34% in science—6, 4 and 2 points below state results. SchoolDigger ranked Sinaloa 554th of 2,703 schools, in the 80th percentile with four stars; San Jose ranked 1,249th, in the 54th percentile with three stars. One grade-level exception at San Jose is seventh-grade math, which was 1 point above the state, despite the school’s lower all-grades math result.

Recent changes favor different subjects at the two schools, but the area’s average advantage over the state narrowed in all three. From 2024–25 to 2025–26, Sinaloa gained 3 points in math and science and slipped 1 point in ELA; San Jose gained 1 point in science but fell 2 points in ELA and 4 in math. The equal-school average margin over the state narrowed from 4 to 2 points in ELA, 5 to 4 in math, and 5 to 4 in science. As context, in 2024–25, 42% of Sinaloa students and 56% of San Jose students were reported as free/reduced lunch eligible. Sinaloa’s student-teacher ratio was 20.4, compared with 21.2 at San Jose; spending was similar, at $21,878 and $22,055 per student. The data does not include tested-student counts.