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
511	Orchard View	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	700 Watertrough Rd.	Sebastopol	95472	Sonoma County	Twin Hills Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(707) 823-4709	224	14	16.3	21.9%	145 (64.7%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (24.6%)	6 (2.7%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (6.3%)	$13,921			$77			$13,844	78.4	78.6	515	4		064023008651
512	Erle Stanley Gardner Middle	Public	6-8	45125 Via Del Coronado	Temecula	92592	Riverside County	Temecula Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 699-0080	1,008	42	23.9	36.4%	328 (32.5%)	23 (2.3%)	364 (36.1%)	184 (18.3%)	12 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	97 (9.6%)	$14,269			$1,078			$13,191	78.3	89	300	212		060002811187
513	Marine View Middle	Public	6-8	5682 Tilburg Dr.	Huntington Beach	92649	Orange County	Ocean View	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 846-0624	736	32	22.6	46.2%	384 (52.2%)	7 (1.0%)	219 (29.8%)	52 (7.1%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	71 (9.6%)	$16,488			$839			$15,649	78.3	83.9	401	112		062814004338
514	Placerita Junior High	Public	7-8	25015 North Newhall Ave.	Newhall	91321	Los Angeles County	William S. Hart Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 259-1551	940	44	21.3	53.6%	260 (27.7%)	10 (1.1%)	610 (64.9%)	36 (3.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (2.6%)	$17,872			$958			$16,914	78.1	80	478	36		064251006960
515	San Pasqual Union Elementary	Public	K-8	15305 Rockwood Rd.	Escondido	92027	San Diego County	San Pasqual Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 745-4931	548	28	19.8	26.1%	269 (49.1%)	5 (0.9%)	205 (37.4%)	15 (2.7%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	51 (9.3%)	$13,498			$456			$13,042	78.1	65.3	784	269		063504005928
516	Cobalt Institute of Math and Science	Public	7-12	14045 Topaz Rd.	Victorville	92392	San Bernardino County	Victor Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 955-2530	1,058	44	24	80.0%	90 (8.5%)	60 (5.7%)	823 (77.8%)	39 (3.7%)	5 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	38 (3.6%)								78.1	82.2	436	80		063697207281
517	Chico Country Day	Public, Charter	K-8	102 West 11th St.	Chico	95928	Butte County	Chico Country Day District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 895-2650	585	26	22.5	26.3%	390 (66.7%)	9 (1.5%)	98 (16.8%)	24 (4.1%)	4 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	59 (10.1%)								78	76.5	558	41		060166505708
518	Maria Montessori Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	1850 Wildcat Blvd.	Rocklin	95765	Placer County	Maria Montessori Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 630-1510	283	16	17.5	15.5%	138 (48.8%)	7 (2.5%)	63 (22.3%)	40 (14.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	34 (12.0%)	$15,600			$521			$15,079	78	74.4	603	85		060205312302
519	River Heights Intermediate	Public	7-8	7227 Scholar Way	Eastvale	92880	Riverside County	Corona-Norco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 738-2155	1,203	45	26.6	68.7%	116 (9.6%)	95 (7.9%)	551 (45.8%)	384 (31.9%)	4 (0.3%)	2 (0.2%)	51 (4.2%)	$14,584			$440			$14,144	78	79	502	17		060985011710
520	John Burroughs Middle	Public	6-8	600 South McCadden Pl.	Los Angeles	90020	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 549-5000	1,302	62	20.8	80.0%	98 (7.5%)	116 (8.9%)	771 (59.2%)	260 (20.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	57 (4.4%)	$17,305			$3,297			$14,008	78	79.2	496	24		062271002875

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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

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.