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
1071	El Sereno Middle	Public	6-8	2839 North Eastern Ave.	Los Angeles	90032	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 224-4700	857	51	16.8	91.8%	14 (1.6%)	12 (1.4%)	787 (91.8%)	31 (3.6%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (1.3%)	$26,783			$4,782			$22,001	54.1	51.8	1115	44		062271002982
1072	Beattie Middle	Public	6-8	7800 Orange St.	Highland	92346	San Bernardino County	Redlands Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 307-2400	1,072	50	21.2	63.2%	190 (17.7%)	59 (5.5%)	635 (59.2%)	125 (11.7%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.5%)	58 (5.4%)	$17,833			$2,038			$15,795	54.1	53.9	1043	29		063207011101
1073	Leon H. Ollivier Middle	Public	6-8	7310 Monitor St.	Bakersfield	93307	Kern County	Greenfield Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 837-6120	1,152	48	23.8	93.7%	44 (3.8%)	53 (4.6%)	1,010 (87.7%)	30 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	13 (1.1%)	$16,188			$1,869			$14,319	54.1	56.9	964	109		061605003105
1074	Pioneer Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	101 West Pioneer Way	Hanford	93230	Kings County	Pioneer Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 584-0112	550	24	22.8	45.1%	148 (26.9%)	23 (4.2%)	322 (58.5%)	28 (5.1%)	5 (0.9%)	3 (0.5%)	21 (3.8%)	$13,224			$1,198			$12,026	54.1	63.1	815	259		063051010226
1075	Stephens Middle	Public	6-8	1830 West Columbia St.	Long Beach	90810	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 595-0841	658	36	18.4	76.9%	7 (1.1%)	73 (11.1%)	437 (66.4%)	95 (14.4%)	3 (0.5%)	23 (3.5%)	20 (3.0%)	$21,936			$4,675			$17,261	54	54.8	1019	56		062250002759
1076	Citizens of the World Charter School Mar Vista	Public, Charter	K-8	11561 Gateway Blvd.	Los Angeles	90064	Los Angeles County	Citizens of the World Charter School Mar Vista District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(424) 248-0544	497	24	20.7	67.4%	86 (17.3%)	80 (16.1%)	260 (52.3%)	19 (3.8%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	49 (9.9%)	$19,098			$1,054			$18,044	54	52.7	1086	10		060218613088
1077	Pasadena Rosebud Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	3700 Denair St	Pasadena	91107	Los Angeles County	Pasadena Rosebud Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 318-1261	169	10	16.9	56.2%	0 (0.0%)	84 (49.7%)	56 (33.1%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (16.6%)								53.9	60.5	875	202		060200711918
1078	Arden Middle	Public	6-8	1640 Watt Ave.	Sacramento	95864	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 971-7306	1,010	45	22.5	46.1%	469 (46.4%)	60 (5.9%)	275 (27.2%)	122 (12.1%)	5 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	77 (7.6%)	$15,777			$1,703			$14,074	53.9	57.8	939	139		063462005753
1079	Mountain Creek Middle	Public	6-8	6862 Mt. Aukum Rd.	Somerset	95684	El Dorado County	Pioneer Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 620-4393	99	6	16.4	42.4%	73 (73.7%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (18.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (6.1%)	$31,053			$10,307			$20,746	53.9	46.1	1275	196		063048002973
1080	Petaluma Junior High	Public	7-8	700 Bantam Way	Petaluma	94952	Sonoma County	Petaluma Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 778-4724	454	24	19.1	44.7%	254 (55.9%)	1 (0.2%)	159 (35.0%)	10 (2.2%)	4 (0.9%)	2 (0.4%)	22 (4.8%)	$19,276			$762			$18,514	53.8	47.9	1217	137		063025004724

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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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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