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
1101	Muir K-8	Public	K-8	3038 Delta Ave.	Long Beach	90810	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 426-5571	1,029	44	23.1	71.0%	16 (1.6%)	115 (11.2%)	706 (68.6%)	141 (13.7%)	1 (0.1%)	15 (1.5%)	35 (3.4%)	$20,603			$3,966			$16,637	53	50.7	1152	51		062250002747
1102	Vista Del Mar	Public	6-8	4885 Del Sol Blvd.	San Diego	92154	San Diego County	San Ysidro Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 661-6753	541	25	21.4	35.9%	17 (3.1%)	38 (7.0%)	418 (77.3%)	48 (8.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (3.7%)								53	55.5	1001	101		063522012993
1103	Fairgrove Academy	Public	K-8	15540 Fairgrove Ave.	La Puente	91744	Los Angeles County	Hacienda la Puente Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 933-8500	749	31	24.1	85.2%	7 (0.9%)	2 (0.3%)	671 (89.6%)	44 (5.9%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	23 (3.1%)	$19,267			$1,657			$17,610	52.9	38.5	1521	418		061632507159
1104	Los Alisos Intermediate	Public	7-8	25171 Moor Ave.	Mission Viejo	92691	Orange County	Saddleback Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 830-9700	595	29	20.5	74.5%	93 (15.6%)	2 (0.3%)	429 (72.1%)	47 (7.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (3.5%)	$19,306			$1,735			$17,571	52.8	53.1	1066	38		063386005306
1105	California Virtual Academy @ Sonoma	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	50 Morland Rd.	Simi Valley	93065	Ventura County	California Virtual Academy @ Sonoma District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 581-0202	966	36	27	64.1%	265 (27.4%)	146 (15.1%)	365 (37.8%)	83 (8.6%)	14 (1.4%)	15 (1.6%)	78 (8.1%)	$10,443			$626			$9,817	52.8	31.6	1747	642		060231611478
1106	Bella Mente Montessori Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	1737 West Vista Way	Vista	92083	San Diego County	Bella Mente Montessori Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 621-8948	424	22	19.2	60.1%	102 (24.1%)	12 (2.8%)	267 (63.0%)	12 (2.8%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.7%)	26 (6.1%)	$16,389			$1,704			$14,685	52.7	28.2	1892	786		060173713667
1107	Westside Preparatory Charter	Public, Charter	7-8	6537 West Second St.	Rio Linda	95673	Sacramento County	Twin Rivers Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 566-1990	480	24	20.3	81.0%	119 (24.8%)	55 (11.5%)	199 (41.5%)	53 (11.0%)	7 (1.5%)	3 (0.6%)	44 (9.2%)	$18,117			$2,033			$16,084	52.7	53.9	1042	65		060133205023
1108	Dolores Huerta Middle	Public	6-8	3556 Zanker Rd.	San Jose	95134	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-2000	571	29	19.6	37.0%	57 (10.0%)	16 (2.8%)	280 (49.0%)	179 (31.3%)	2 (0.4%)	3 (0.5%)	34 (6.0%)	$28,976			$1,182			$27,794	52.7	53.4	1061	47		063543014549
1109	Ridgeview Middle	Public	7-8	3315 North Akers St.	Visalia	93291	Tulare County	Visalia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 622-3308	975	40	24.3	59.5%	165 (16.9%)	18 (1.8%)	639 (65.5%)	85 (8.7%)	3 (0.3%)	2 (0.2%)	63 (6.5%)	$17,981			$2,789			$15,192	52.7	55.9	993	116		064116013978
1110	Alvina Elementary Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	295 West Saginaw Ave.	Caruthers	93609	Fresno County	Alvina Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 864-9411	169	9	18.7	82.2%	15 (8.9%)	1 (0.6%)	150 (88.8%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.2%)	$20,041			$1,534			$18,507	52.7	59	909	201		060237000127

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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