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 9, 2025.

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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
2692	Capital City Independent Study	Public, Alternative	K-12	7222 24th St.	Sacramento	95822	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(916) 395-5020	258	20	13.1	76.7%	34 (13.2%)	38 (14.7%)	111 (43.0%)	54 (20.9%)	3 (1.2%)	5 (1.9%)	13 (5.0%)	$26,047			$5,314			$20,733	7.5	26.1	1989	703		063384006327
2693	Monarch	Public, Alternative	K-12	1625 Newton Ave.	San Diego	92113	San Diego County	San Diego County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 652-4100	225	16	14.4	100.0%	10 (4.4%)	17 (7.6%)	182 (80.9%)	1 (0.4%)	4 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (4.9%)	$35,553			$6,451			$29,102	7.4	11	2632	61		069103012496
2694	Riverside County Community	Public	7-12	3939 13th St.	Riverside	92501	Riverside County	Riverside County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 826-6464	181	13	14.1	85.6%	13 (7.2%)	18 (9.9%)	134 (74.0%)	2 (1.1%)	2 (1.1%)	1 (0.6%)	10 (5.5%)	$23,769			$7,681			$16,088	7.2	6.5	2740	46		069102610577
2695	eCademy Charter at Crane	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1100 Cahill Ave.	Turlock	95380	Stanislaus County	eCademy Charter at Crane District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(209) 669-3410	114	8	14.9	79.8%	28 (24.6%)	0 (0.0%)	70 (61.4%)	6 (5.3%)	1 (0.9%)	1 (0.9%)	8 (7.0%)	$14,408			$92			$14,316	7.2	11.5	2613	82		060166112929
2696	Oakdale	Public, Alternative	K-12	290 East Ave.	Chico	95926	Butte County	Chico Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 891-3092	92	5	20.2	80.4%	47 (51.1%)	3 (3.3%)	29 (31.5%)	1 (1.1%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (10.9%)	$15,162			$2,022			$13,140	7.1	12.2	2576	120		060837008450
2697	Mojave River Academy - Oro Grande	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	12384 Palmdale Rd.	Victorville	92392	San Bernardino County	Mojave River Academy - Oro Grande District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 245-3222	862	39	22.2	85.8%	210 (24.4%)	53 (6.1%)	540 (62.6%)	4 (0.5%)	7 (0.8%)	3 (0.3%)	40 (4.6%)	$11,574			$1,944			$9,630	7	12.2	2574	123		060220914262
2698	Lakeport Alternative (Home School)	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	2508 Howard Ave.	Lakeport	95453	Lake County	Lakeport Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(707) 262-3013	101	6	16.8	76.2%	44 (43.6%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (33.7%)	5 (5.0%)	12 (11.9%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (5.9%)	$14,781			$163			$14,618	6.9	5.6	2761	63		062067008712
2699	Butterfield Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	900 West Pioneer Ave.	Porterville	93257	Tulare County	Porterville Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 782-7057	504	24	20.6	94.0%	81 (16.1%)	1 (0.2%)	383 (76.0%)	5 (1.0%)	18 (3.6%)	2 (0.4%)	12 (2.4%)	$20,846			$1,733			$19,113	6.9	5.8	2754	55		060006412042
2700	Valley Merced Community	Public, Alternative	K-12	1850 Wardrobe Ave.	Merced	95341	Merced County	Merced County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 381-4500	99	5	20.2	94.9%	10 (10.1%)	10 (10.1%)	76 (76.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.0%)	$19,632			$2,758			$16,874	6.8			(n/a)		069102008217
2701	Riverside County Special Education	Public, Alternative	K-12	3939 13th St.	Riverside	92502	Riverside County	Riverside County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 826-6476	584	72	8.1	54.6%	72 (12.3%)	26 (4.5%)	450 (77.1%)	19 (3.3%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	13 (2.2%)	$89,638			$6,196			$83,442	6.8			(n/a)		069102609031

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Public School Districts and Their Services: 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.