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
1922	Yolo Junior High	Public	6-8	901 Hoyer Rd.	Newman	95360	Stanislaus County	Newman-Crows Landing Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 862-2984	738	38	19.4	74.3%	77 (10.4%)	12 (1.6%)	607 (82.2%)	15 (2.0%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	24 (3.3%)	$18,039			$989			$17,050	27.2	26.1	1992	70		062720004102
1923	Aptitud Community Academy at Goss	Public	K-8	2475 Van Winkle Ln.	San Jose	95116	Santa Clara County	Alum Rock Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 928-7656	386	20	19.5	89.1%	3 (0.8%)	3 (0.8%)	336 (87.0%)	40 (10.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	$23,559			$2,756			$20,803	27.1	29.5	1831	92		060231000106
1924	Animo Jefferson Charter Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	1655 East 27th St.	Los Angeles	90011	Los Angeles County	Animo Jefferson Charter Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 232-1857	427	23	18.7	96.0%	8 (1.9%)	6 (1.4%)	412 (96.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	$25,475			$5,044			$20,431	27.1	22.4	2156	232		060234412690
1925	Riverview Middle	Public	7-8	13943 Rivers Edge Rd.	Helendale	92342	San Bernardino County	Helendale Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 952-1266	141	8	16.8	45.4%	58 (41.1%)	5 (3.5%)	74 (52.5%)	2 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.4%)	$44,503			$6,824			$37,679	27.1	39.2	1498	427		061686009376
1926	Will Rogers Middle	Public	6-8	4924 Dewey Dr.	Fair Oaks	95628	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 971-7889	564	29	19.5	75.9%	241 (42.7%)	39 (6.9%)	192 (34.0%)	35 (6.2%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.4%)	49 (8.7%)	$18,210			$2,983			$15,227	27.1	33.5	1688	238		063462005814
1927	Chula Vista Middle	Public	7-8	415 Fifth Ave.	Chula Vista	91910	San Diego County	Sweetwater Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 498-6800	678	32	21	59.3%	44 (6.5%)	16 (2.4%)	592 (87.3%)	13 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.4%)	10 (1.5%)								27	27.6	1915	12		063864006478
1928	Oak Grove Middle	Public	6-8	14344 Olive Vista Dr.	Jamul	91935	San Diego County	Jamul-Dulzura Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 669-2700	215	11	19.5	39.1%	44 (20.5%)	6 (2.8%)	150 (69.8%)	5 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.2%)	$17,064			$1,952			$15,112	27	27	1951	23		061873002274
1929	Magnolia Science Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	18238 Sherman Way	Reseda	91335	Los Angeles County	Magnolia Science Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 609-0507	746	39	19.1	86.2%	29 (3.9%)	7 (0.9%)	661 (88.6%)	43 (5.8%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.7%)	$21,916			$1,902			$20,014	27	33.8	1679	250		060170610524
1930	Julian Junior High	Public	6-8	1704 Cape Horn Ave.	Julian	92036	San Diego County	Julian Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 765-0661	110	5	21.8	64.5%	39 (35.5%)	1 (0.9%)	47 (42.7%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.6%)	2 (1.8%)	17 (15.5%)								26.9	40.3	1448	482		061914008859
1931	Ramona Junior High	Public	7-8	4575 Walnut Ave.	Chino	91710	San Bernardino County	Chino Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 627-9144	417	22	19.3	90.4%	26 (6.2%)	7 (1.7%)	364 (87.3%)	14 (3.4%)	2 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.7%)								26.9	28.8	1864	67		060846000846

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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