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
1291	John F. Kennedy Junior High	Public	7-8	1000 East Florinda St.	Hanford	93232	Kings County	Hanford Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 585-3850	531	25	21.2	82.9%	45 (8.5%)	23 (4.3%)	431 (81.2%)	4 (0.8%)	4 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (4.5%)	$15,497			$1,828			$13,669	46.1	35.3	1612	321		061647003154
1292	San Marcos Middle	Public	6-8	650 West Mission Rd.	San Marcos	92069	San Diego County	San Marcos Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 290-2500	968	40	24.1	58.7%	144 (14.9%)	13 (1.3%)	699 (72.2%)	66 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (4.8%)	$16,790			$1,289			$15,501	46.1	43.2	1366	74		063488005894
1293	Discovery Charter	Public, Charter	5-8	51 East Beverly Pl.	Tracy	95376	San Joaquin County	Discovery Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 290-0511	369	16	22.9	28.2%	65 (17.6%)	15 (4.1%)	202 (54.7%)	68 (18.4%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	17 (4.6%)	$13,242			$289			$12,953	46	43	1374	81		060188810393
1294	Washington Intermediate	Public	7-8	1150 North Hayes Ave.	Dinuba	93618	Tulare County	Dinuba Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 595-7252	916	45	20.1	78.7%	45 (4.9%)	3 (0.3%)	845 (92.2%)	13 (1.4%)	9 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	$20,109			$3,818			$16,291	46	34.7	1643	349		060006501240
1295	Rio Hondo Elementary	Public	K-8	11425 Wildflower Rd.	Arcadia	91006	Los Angeles County	El Monte City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 575-2308	636	32	19.7	78.5%	10 (1.6%)	4 (0.6%)	496 (78.0%)	116 (18.2%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	7 (1.1%)	$25,162			$5,605			$19,557	46	46.6	1265	30		061209001357
1296	Solorsano Middle	Public	6-8	7121 Grenache Way	Gilroy	95020	Santa Clara County	Gilroy Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(669) 205-5000	749	34	22	48.9%	97 (13.0%)	16 (2.1%)	490 (65.4%)	78 (10.4%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	64 (8.5%)	$18,120			$1,483			$16,637	46	51.5	1121	175		061518011203
1297	Gonzalo Felicitas Mendez Fundamental Intermediate	Public	6-8	2000 North Bristol	Santa Ana	92706	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 972-7800	1,234	58	21.3	91.7%	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1,217 (98.6%)	12 (1.0%)	3 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	$23,007			$978			$22,029	45.9	45.5	1294	3		063531008548
1298	Thomas Page Academy	Public	K-8	1075 Madrone Ave.	Cotati	94931	Sonoma County	Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 792-4860	428	21	20	65.7%	78 (18.2%)	21 (4.9%)	268 (62.6%)	16 (3.7%)	15 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (6.8%)	$17,562			$1,531			$16,031	45.9	52.3	1096	202		060994001083
1299	Centerville Elementary	Public	K-8	48 South Smith Ave.	Sanger	93657	Fresno County	Sanger Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 524-6000	409	19	21.2	57.9%	42 (10.3%)	0 (0.0%)	361 (88.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.5%)	$17,462			$1,359			$16,103	45.9	49.4	1186	113		063525005968
1300	La Cumbre Junior High	Public	7-8	2255 Modoc Rd.	Santa Barbara	93101	Santa Barbara County	Santa Barbara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 687-0761	426	24	17.5	84.5%	34 (8.0%)	1 (0.2%)	383 (89.9%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.2%)	$18,504			$1,397			$17,107	45.9	33.1	1702	402		060141406024

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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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.