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
2362	Lick (James) Middle	Public	6-8	1220 Noe St.	San Francisco	94114	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 695-5675	479	29	16.4	61.8%	46 (9.6%)	32 (6.7%)	353 (73.7%)	12 (2.5%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	33 (6.9%)	$25,921			$2,573			$23,348	16.8	15.7	2449	87		063441005629
2363	Village Tk-8	Public	K-8	6845 Larchmont Dr.	North Highlands	95660	Sacramento County	Twin Rivers Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 566-1970	463	19	24.3	89.0%	78 (16.8%)	35 (7.6%)	264 (57.0%)	34 (7.3%)	7 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (9.7%)	$17,959			$2,938			$15,021	16.8	18.5	2319	44		060133205108
2364	Perkins K-8	Public	K-8	1770 Main St.	San Diego	92113	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 344-5300	381	19	20	95.5%	9 (2.4%)	20 (5.2%)	325 (85.3%)	11 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	15 (3.9%)	$24,141			$4,387			$19,754	16.8	17	2396	32		063432005506
2365	Hoover Elementary	Public	K-8	701 Charter St.	Redwood City	94063	San Mateo County	Redwood City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 482-2408	675	33	20.4	96.7%	11 (1.6%)	1 (0.1%)	646 (95.7%)	4 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.5%)	3 (0.4%)	$23,988			$3,429			$20,559	16.8	12.9	2553	188		063213004968
2366	Puente Hills High	Public, Alternative	K-12	15430 Shadybend Dr.	Hacienda Heights	91745	Los Angeles County	Hacienda la Puente Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 933-3400	154	22	7.1	66.9%	3 (1.9%)	2 (1.3%)	132 (85.7%)	12 (7.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.2%)	$23,147			$2,834			$20,313	16.7			(n/a)		061632509143
2367	Lighthouse Community Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	444 Hegenberger St.	Oakland	94621	Alameda County	Lighthouse Community Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 562-8801	549	29	18.8	92.2%	6 (1.1%)	27 (4.9%)	483 (88.0%)	8 (1.5%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	23 (4.2%)	$27,062			$1,892			$25,170	16.7	17.8	2357	10		060193710408
2368	Bobby Duke Middle	Public	7-8	85-358 Bagdad Ave.	Coachella	92236	Riverside County	Coachella Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 398-0139	648	31	20.9	96.0%	4 (0.6%)	3 (0.5%)	636 (98.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.8%)	$28,850			$1,276			$27,574	16.7	20.5	2241	127		060907011969
2369	Greenfield Middle	Public	6-8	1495 Greenfield Dr.	El Cajon	92021	San Diego County	Cajon Valley Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 588-3103	730	32	22.6	94.1%	256 (35.1%)	64 (8.8%)	317 (43.4%)	49 (6.7%)	3 (0.4%)	7 (1.0%)	34 (4.7%)	$21,352			$2,797			$18,555	16.7	15.3	2469	100		060681000615
2370	San Joaquin Elementary	Public	K-8	8535 South Ninth	San Joaquin	93660	Fresno County	Golden Plains Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 693-4321	518	24	21.2	96.1%	1 (0.2%)	10 (1.9%)	502 (96.9%)	4 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,939			$2,243			$11,696	16.7	20.3	2252	118		069113410217
2371	Walton Middle	Public	7-8	900 West Greenleaf Ave.	Compton	90220	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 898-6060	72	5	13.3	94.4%	0 (0.0%)	13 (18.1%)	58 (80.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$31,411			$6,356			$25,055	16.6	23.3	2117	254		060962001000

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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

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.