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
901	Elizabeth Ustach Middle	Public	6-8	2701 Kodiak Dr.	Modesto	95355	Stanislaus County	Sylvan Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 552-3000	1,016	50	20.4	56.3%	255 (25.1%)	17 (1.7%)	510 (50.2%)	145 (14.3%)	7 (0.7%)	13 (1.3%)	69 (6.8%)	$10,761			$777			$9,984	60.3	66.7	753	148		063867001828
902	Lazear Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	824 29th Ave.	Oakland	94601	Alameda County	Lazear Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 689-2018	490	21	23.2	60.4%	10 (2.0%)	30 (6.1%)	427 (87.1%)	15 (3.1%)	4 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.8%)	$9,801			$3,128			$6,673	60.2	45.7	1287	385		060240504288
903	Dolores Huerta Middle	Public	6-8	420 South Mariposa St.	Burbank	91506	Los Angeles County	Burbank Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 729-3900	931	38	24.3	30.6%	343 (36.8%)	28 (3.0%)	368 (39.5%)	75 (8.1%)	2 (0.2%)	3 (0.3%)	111 (11.9%)	$122,208			$7,812			$114,396	60.2	55	1015	112		060645000570
904	Three Rivers Charter	Public, Charter	1-8	1211 Del Mar Dr. #301	Fort Bragg	95437	Mendocino County	Three Rivers Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 964-1128	81	4	20.3	64.2%	54 (66.7%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (22.2%)	1 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (8.6%)	$16,922			$3,305			$13,617	60.2	71.9	656	248		060199912818
905	Royal Oak Middle	Public	7-8	303 South Glendora Ave.	Covina	91724	Los Angeles County	Charter Oak Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 967-6354	610	29	21	74.1%	71 (11.6%)	10 (1.6%)	455 (74.6%)	48 (7.9%)	5 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (3.4%)	$19,307			$1,433			$17,874	60.1	61.6	850	55		060819000804
906	High Technical Middle Mesa	Public, Charter	6-8	5331 Mt. Alifan Dr.	San Diego	92111	San Diego County	High Technical Middle Mesa District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 510-4600	352	24	14.5	41.2%	121 (34.4%)	13 (3.7%)	123 (34.9%)	70 (19.9%)	3 (0.9%)	4 (1.1%)	16 (4.5%)	$12,683			$1,013			$11,670	60	66.3	760	146		060223214427
907	Museum	Public, Charter	K-8	211 Maple St.	San Diego	92103	San Diego County	Museum District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 236-8712	213	13	16.6	28.6%	85 (39.9%)	7 (3.3%)	81 (38.0%)	7 (3.3%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (14.1%)	$18,472			$918			$17,554	60	75.6	576	331		060210607689
908	Chico Junior High	Public	6-8	280 Memorial Way	Chico	95926	Butte County	Chico Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 891-3066	861	39	22.1	63.9%	335 (38.9%)	22 (2.6%)	339 (39.4%)	43 (5.0%)	12 (1.4%)	6 (0.7%)	100 (11.6%)	$14,189			$1,825			$12,364	60	64.2	799	109		060837000814
909	Mission Preparatory	Public, Charter	K-8	1050 York St.	San Francisco	94110	San Francisco County	Mission Preparatory District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 508-9626	491	24	20.5	83.7%	14 (2.9%)	28 (5.7%)	410 (83.5%)	29 (5.9%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	7 (1.4%)	$20,469			$2,541			$17,928	59.9	36.1	1589	680		060223612768
910	Stonegate Elementary	Public	K-8	2500 La Jolla St.	West Sacramento	95691	Yolo County	Washington Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 375-7600	928	41	22.6	41.9%	319 (34.4%)	43 (4.6%)	292 (31.5%)	137 (14.8%)	4 (0.4%)	14 (1.5%)	118 (12.7%)								59.9	58.1	930	20		064158012071

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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