Best Middle Schools in California

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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
2012	John Gutierrez Middle	Public	6-8	1031 Rogge Rd.	Salinas	93906	Monterey County	Santa Rita Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 443-3300	568	29	19.4	80.5%	32 (5.6%)	5 (0.9%)	513 (90.3%)	9 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	7 (1.2%)	$18,773			$1,915			$16,858	24.8	22.7	2137	125		063579012689
2013	Ocean View Junior High	Public	6-8	4300 Olds Rd.	Oxnard	93033	Ventura County	Ocean View	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 488-6421	700	32	22.2	76.0%	22 (3.1%)	11 (1.6%)	641 (91.6%)	16 (2.3%)	1 (0.1%)	3 (0.4%)	6 (0.9%)	$11,038			$2,035			$9,003	24.8	21.4	2198	185		062817004354
2014	Gladstone Middle	Public	6-8	1340 North Enid	Covina	91722	Los Angeles County	Azusa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 815-3600	1,326	59	22.3	90.5%	46 (3.5%)	7 (0.5%)	1,203 (90.7%)	48 (3.6%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	19 (1.4%)	$22,128			$1,840			$20,288	24.8	24.2	2074	60		060360000273
2015	Pivot Charter School Riverside	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	700 North Main St.	Corona	92878	Riverside County	Pivot Charter School Riverside District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(951) 280-0229	170	9	19.5	62.9%	74 (43.5%)	5 (2.9%)	70 (41.2%)	5 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.9%)	11 (6.5%)	$12,898			$683			$12,215	24.8	41.8	1398	617		060221414240
2016	Marina del Rey Middle	Public	6-8	12500 Braddock Dr.	Los Angeles	90066	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 578-2700	300	22	13.4	87.3%	4 (1.3%)	115 (38.3%)	168 (56.0%)	4 (1.3%)	3 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.0%)	$38,780			$9,472			$29,308	24.8	17.1	2393	377		062271003166
2017	Kunst (Tommie) Junior High	Public	7-8	930 Hidden Pines Way	Santa Maria	93458	Santa Barbara County	Santa Maria-Bonita	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 361-5800	912	50	18	87.5%	23 (2.5%)	2 (0.2%)	852 (93.4%)	24 (2.6%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (0.9%)	$21,183			$2,682			$18,501	24.8	27.7	1914	103		060558011436
2018	San Francisco Community Alternative	Public	K-8	125 Excelsior Ave.	San Francisco	94112	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 469-4739	230	12	18.8	50.0%	40 (17.4%)	26 (11.3%)	104 (45.2%)	29 (12.6%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (12.6%)	$22,548			$2,210			$20,338	24.8	50	1172	846		063441005663
2019	Vista Charter Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	2900 West Temple St.	Los Angeles	90026	Los Angeles County	Vista Charter Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 201-4000	364	15	23.8	88.5%	1 (0.3%)	4 (1.1%)	341 (93.7%)	10 (2.7%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.9%)	$23,661			$6,356			$17,305	24.8	24.1	2082	63		060187112776
2020	Alder Middle	Public	6-8	7555 Alder Ave.	Fontana	92336	San Bernardino County	Fontana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 357-5330	964	43	22.4	92.1%	32 (3.3%)	43 (4.5%)	870 (90.2%)	7 (0.7%)	1 (0.1%)	3 (0.3%)	8 (0.8%)	$20,639			$2,886			$17,753	24.8	23.3	2115	95		061392001585
2021	Great Valley Academy - Salida	Public, Charter	K-8	5901 Sisk Rd.	Modesto	95356	Stanislaus County	Great Valley Academy - Salida District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 545-7500	927	38	24.7	31.3%	256 (27.6%)	22 (2.4%)	532 (57.4%)	48 (5.2%)	6 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (6.8%)	$11,921			$614			$11,307	24.7	36.8	1573	448		060224412945

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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