Best Middle Schools in California

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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 9, 2025.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 2760)	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 (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
2052	Montebello Intermediate	Public	6-8	1600 Whittier Blvd.	Montebello	90640	Los Angeles County	Montebello Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 721-5111	733	34	21.2	90.3%	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	721 (98.4%)	5 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	$12,079			$1,011			$11,068	24	29.3	1844	208		062547003804
2053	Fort Bragg Middle	Public	6-8	500 Harold St.	Fort Bragg	95437	Mendocino County	Fort Bragg Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 961-2870	376	22	17	78.2%	146 (38.8%)	4 (1.1%)	179 (47.6%)	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.8%)	1 (0.3%)	42 (11.2%)	$17,322			$1,808			$15,514	24	27	1949	104		061407001609
2054	Carquinez Middle	Public	6-8	1099 Pomona St.	Crockett	94525	Contra Costa County	John Swett Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 787-1081	286	14	20.5	83.6%	40 (14.0%)	42 (14.7%)	114 (39.9%)	54 (18.9%)	2 (0.7%)	3 (1.0%)	31 (10.8%)	$24,723			$2,033			$22,690	24	20.3	2251	197		061899002299
2055	Los Molinos Elementary	Public	K-8	7700 Stanford	Los Molinos	96055	Tehama County	Los Molinos Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 384-7903	266	12	22.1	80.5%	90 (33.8%)	1 (0.4%)	158 (59.4%)	1 (0.4%)	5 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (4.1%)	$18,454			$1,076			$17,378	24	35.8	1595	460		062286003496
2056	Thomas Jefferson Middle	Public	6-8	305 Griffith Ave.	Wasco	93280	Kern County	Wasco Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 758-7140	591	27	21.7	90.9%	12 (2.0%)	7 (1.2%)	567 (95.9%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	$19,162			$1,029			$18,133	23.9	24.2	2071	15		064140006847
2057	Magnolia Science Academy Bell	Public, Charter	6-8	6411 Orchard Ave.	Bell	90201	Los Angeles County	Magnolia Science Academy Bell District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 826-3925	385	18	20.8	77.1%	19 (4.9%)	1 (0.3%)	360 (93.5%)	5 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$19,660			$1,354			$18,306	23.9	26.9	1958	99		060163012695
2058	Bartlett Middle	Public	7-8	335 North G St.	Porterville	93257	Tulare County	Porterville Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 782-7100	443	25	17.8	97.1%	32 (7.2%)	2 (0.5%)	395 (89.2%)	6 (1.4%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.5%)	5 (1.1%)	$21,212			$1,949			$19,263	23.9	26.1	1990	68		060006404869
2059	Frank D. Parent	Public	K-8	5354 West 64th St.	Inglewood	90302	Los Angeles County	Inglewood Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 680-5430	235	12	20.3	87.2%	2 (0.9%)	160 (68.1%)	63 (26.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (3.8%)								23.9	21.4	2201	142		061839002262
2060	Kettleman City Elementary	Public	K-8	701 General Petroleum St.	Kettleman City	93239	Kings County	Reef-Sunset Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 386-5702	239	12	20.4	96.2%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	239 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$23,600			$2,019			$21,581	23.8	20.8	2231	171		063227007336
2061	O. J. Actis Junior High	Public	7-8	2400 Westholme Blvd.	Bakersfield	93309	Kern County	Panama-Buena Vista Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 833-1250	681	42	16.1	84.6%	71 (10.4%)	87 (12.8%)	467 (68.6%)	22 (3.2%)	3 (0.4%)	6 (0.9%)	24 (3.5%)	$20,376			$1,923			$18,453	23.8	28.7	1871	190		060639009334

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 Native American Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial 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 9, 2025, 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

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

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.