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
1952	Pearblossom Elementary	Public	K-8	12828 East Avenue W	Pearblossom	93553	Los Angeles County	Keppel Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 944-6019	435	18	24.1	66.0%	87 (20.0%)	1 (0.2%)	332 (76.3%)	6 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.1%)	$22,225			$2,559			$19,666	26	29.6	1823	129		061944009557
1953	Central Valley Home	Public, Virtual, Charter	K-8	1776 Sixth Ave.	Kingsburg	93631	Fresno County	Kingsburg Elementary Charter	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(559) 897-6740	119	4	29.6	87.4%	16 (13.4%)	0 (0.0%)	96 (80.7%)	2 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (4.2%)	$16,779			$790			$15,989	26	13.1	2548	595		061980007085
1954	Richard L. Graves Middle	Public	6-8	13243 East Los Nietos Rd.	Whittier	90605	Los Angeles County	South Whittier Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 944-0135	484	25	19.5	92.4%	7 (1.4%)	4 (0.8%)	461 (95.2%)	10 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$26,922			$3,701			$23,221	26	30.1	1808	146		063756006361
1955	Buena Park Middle	Public	6-8	6931 Orangethorpe Ave.	Buena Park	90620	Orange County	Buena Park Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 522-8491	633	27	23.6	91.0%	27 (4.3%)	28 (4.4%)	501 (79.1%)	62 (9.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	13 (2.1%)	$21,009			$1,967			$19,042	25.9	29.2	1848	107		060636000553
1956	Hamilton Middle	Public	6-8	1060 East 70th St.	Long Beach	90805	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 602-0302	748	35	21.4	84.6%	6 (0.8%)	78 (10.4%)	604 (80.7%)	34 (4.5%)	1 (0.1%)	15 (2.0%)	10 (1.3%)	$21,026			$4,614			$16,412	25.9	27.1	1942	14		062250002719
1957	William Sheppard Middle	Public	6-8	480 Rough and Ready Rd.	San Jose	95133	Santa Clara County	Alum Rock Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 928-8800	451	26	17.3	71.4%	9 (2.0%)	3 (0.7%)	269 (59.6%)	157 (34.8%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.9%)	8 (1.8%)	$23,457			$2,887			$20,570	25.9	23	2127	170		060231000122
1958	Enrique Camarena Junior High	Public	7-8	800 East Rivera Ave.	Calexico	92231	Imperial County	Calexico Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 768-3808	674	31	21.9	85.5%	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	667 (99.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$22,226			$3,360			$18,866	25.9	33.7	1681	277		060690011595
1959	Fulton K-8	Public	K-8	7055 Skyline Dr.	San Diego	92114	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 344-3200	310	14	22.1	90.3%	7 (2.3%)	63 (20.3%)	169 (54.5%)	40 (12.9%)	2 (0.6%)	4 (1.3%)	25 (8.1%)	$21,883			$3,902			$17,981	25.9	22	2174	215		063432005466
1960	Delta Vista Middle	Public	6-8	4901 Frank Hengel Way	Oakley	94561	Contra Costa County	Oakley Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 625-6840	873	40	21.6	43.9%	212 (24.3%)	124 (14.2%)	370 (42.4%)	116 (13.3%)	3 (0.3%)	13 (1.5%)	35 (4.0%)	$14,022			$1,504			$12,518	25.9	27.3	1930	30		062808008689
1961	F. C. Joyce Tk-8	Public	K-8	6050 Watt Ave.	North Highlands	95660	Sacramento County	Twin Rivers Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 566-1880	537	24	22.3	93.9%	76 (14.2%)	53 (9.9%)	192 (35.8%)	139 (25.9%)	2 (0.4%)	10 (1.9%)	65 (12.1%)	$18,602			$3,109			$15,493	25.9	19.6	2276	315		060133205096

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.