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
1712	Bellevue Senior Elementary	Public	7-8	1020 East Bellevue Rd.	Atwater	95301	Merced County	Atwater Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 357-6140	178	12	15.2	93.8%	8 (4.5%)	5 (2.8%)	161 (90.4%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.7%)	$13,834			$1,921			$11,913	33.1	37.7	1538	174		060342013051
1713	SOAR Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	198 West Mill St.	San Bernardino	92408	San Bernardino County	SOAR Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 888-3300	461	20	22.9	85.7%	35 (7.6%)	64 (13.9%)	341 (74.0%)	2 (0.4%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (3.5%)	$20,553			$1,642			$18,911	33.1	43.5	1359	354		060148112377
1714	Nordhoff Junior High	Public	7-8	1401 Maricopa Hwy	Ojai	93023	Ventura County	Ojai Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 640-4343	271	12	22.1	53.1%	137 (50.6%)	2 (0.7%)	116 (42.8%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (5.2%)	$3,615			$205			$3,410	33.1	35.9	1593	121		062827004376
1715	Golden Sierra Junior Senior High	Public	7-12	5101 Garden Valley Rd.	Garden Valley	95633	El Dorado County	Black Oak Mine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 333-8330	436	28	15.5	42.9%	327 (75.0%)	1 (0.2%)	65 (14.9%)	6 (1.4%)	10 (2.3%)	1 (0.2%)	26 (6.0%)	$16,779			$523			$16,256	33.1	39.5	1484	231		060524000495
1716	American River Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	6620 Wentworth Springs Rd.	Georgetown	95634	El Dorado County	Black Oak Mine Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 333-8340	263	9	29.5	38.0%	204 (77.6%)	2 (0.8%)	22 (8.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	4 (1.5%)	30 (11.4%)	$13,583			$282			$13,301	33	31.7	1742	26		060524012774
1717	Integrity Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	701 National City Blvd.	National City	91950	San Diego County	Integrity Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 336-0808	393	21	18.8	87.0%	6 (1.5%)	7 (1.8%)	366 (93.1%)	10 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.8%)	$19,440			$3,167			$16,273	33	21.7	2188	471		060192811237
1718	Sierra Junior High	Public	7-8	33326 Lodge Rd.	Tollhouse	93667	Fresno County	Sierra Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 855-8311	184	13	14.4	40.8%	106 (57.6%)	0 (0.0%)	35 (19.0%)	2 (1.1%)	28 (15.2%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (7.1%)	$14,275			$1,986			$12,289	33	39.2	1501	217		063680512899
1719	Western Avenue Technology Magnet	Public	K-8	1724 West 53rd St.	Los Angeles	90062	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 295-3261	563	30	18.6	98.4%	4 (0.7%)	85 (15.1%)	434 (77.1%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (6.4%)	$27,550			$6,849			$20,701	32.9	13.7	2528	809		062271003456
1720	Ellen Ochoa Learning Center	Public	K-8	5027 Live Oak St.	Cudahy	90201	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 869-1300	1,052	57	18.4	96.6%	7 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1,041 (99.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.4%)	$23,011			$4,093			$18,918	32.9	25.7	2010	290		062271008510
1721	Belvedere Middle	Public	6-8	312 North Record Ave.	Los Angeles	90063	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 266-5400	734	43	16.9	95.8%	10 (1.4%)	2 (0.3%)	717 (97.7%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.5%)	$24,161			$4,337			$19,824	32.9	28.5	1884	163		062271002850

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.