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
331	Larchmont Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1265 North Fairfax Ave.	West Hollywood	90046	Los Angeles County	Larchmont Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 656-6418	1,767	72	24.5	43.7%	606 (34.3%)	71 (4.0%)	452 (25.6%)	427 (24.2%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	206 (11.7%)	$18,485			$1,320			$17,165	87.3	91.3	247	84		060190410870
332	Donald S. Jordan Intermediate	Public	7-8	9821 Woodbury Rd.	Garden Grove	92844	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6124	551	23	23.8	85.5%	17 (3.1%)	3 (0.5%)	209 (37.9%)	315 (57.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	5 (0.9%)	$17,549			$1,899			$15,650	87.3	88.4	310	22		061488001853
333	Live Oak Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	100 Gnoss Concourse Bldg. 1	Petaluma	94952	Sonoma County	Live Oak Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 762-9020	271	13	21.6	26.6%	197 (72.7%)	5 (1.8%)	27 (10.0%)	8 (3.0%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	30 (11.1%)	$13,818			$41			$13,777	87.2	86.7	350	17		060216110431
334	Parkview	Public, Alternative	K-12	2189 North Kraemer Blvd.	Placentia	92870	Orange County	Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 986-7050	259	8	34.2	30.1%	104 (40.2%)	4 (1.5%)	94 (36.3%)	40 (15.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	16 (6.2%)	$18,397			$935			$17,462	87	86.4	356	22		063066008754
335	KIPP Heritage Academy	Public, Charter	5-8	423 Los Arboles St.	San Jose	95111	Santa Clara County	KIPP Heritage Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 283-6260	454	21	22.1	62.6%	5 (1.1%)	6 (1.3%)	217 (47.8%)	223 (49.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.7%)	$34,762			$1,222			$33,540	86.9	90.4	269	66		060225913763
336	River Islands Technology Academy II	Public, Charter	K-8	1175 Marina Dr.	Lathrop	95330	San Joaquin County	River Islands Technology Academy II District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 229-4700	954	39	24.3	35.2%	115 (12.1%)	106 (11.1%)	328 (34.4%)	384 (40.3%)	12 (1.3%)	4 (0.4%)	5 (0.5%)	$11,811			$556			$11,255	86.9	85.2	380	44		060175613146
337	Arroyo Seco Junior High	Public	7-8	27171 North Vista Delgado Dr.	Valencia	91354	Los Angeles County	William S. Hart Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 296-0991	1,239	51	24.3	17.2%	472 (38.1%)	37 (3.0%)	473 (38.2%)	164 (13.2%)	4 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	89 (7.2%)	$15,276			$870			$14,406	86.9	85.4	378	41		064251006956
338	Carl Hankey Middle	Public	6-8	27252 Nubles	Mission Viejo	92692	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5315	181	12	15.6	49.7%	69 (38.1%)	3 (1.7%)	75 (41.4%)	18 (9.9%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (7.7%)	$24,837			$1,745			$23,092	86.9	79.1	499	161		060744012093
339	Dorothy McElhinney Middle	Public	6-8	35125 Briggs Rd.	Murrieta	92563	Riverside County	Murrieta Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 304-1885	1,451	58	24.9	46.2%	509 (35.1%)	88 (6.1%)	533 (36.7%)	154 (10.6%)	2 (0.1%)	8 (0.6%)	157 (10.8%)	$13,425			$317			$13,108	86.9	83.9	400	61		060002912243
340	Miwok Middle	Public	7-8	3150 I St.	Sacramento	95816	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-5370	1,181	46	25.9	32.9%	446 (37.8%)	55 (4.7%)	355 (30.1%)	176 (14.9%)	7 (0.6%)	5 (0.4%)	136 (11.5%)	$20,127			$3,101			$17,026	86.8	88.2	318	22		063384005283

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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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.