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
1001	Limitless Learning Academy	Public, Virtual	K-8	1400 West Ninth Ave.	Escondido	92029	San Diego County	Escondido Union	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(760) 432-2388	119	8	14.8	65.5%	6 (5.0%)	3 (2.5%)	95 (79.8%)	6 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (7.6%)								56	45.9	1278	277		061288014616
1002	iLEAD Online Charter	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	3720 Sierra Hwy.	Acton	93510	Los Angeles County	iLEAD Online Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(661) 644-8701	356	41	8.7	51.7%	99 (27.8%)	58 (16.3%)	122 (34.3%)	18 (5.1%)	2 (0.6%)	2 (0.6%)	50 (14.0%)	$16,895			$770			$16,125	56	34.1	1665	663		060180614203
1003	Redwood Elementary	Public	K-8	6900 Lake Earl Dr.	Crescent City	95531	Del Norte County	Del Norte County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 464-0360	452	19	23.2	59.1%	241 (53.3%)	1 (0.2%)	87 (19.2%)	14 (3.1%)	48 (10.6%)	0 (0.0%)	61 (13.5%)	$15,914			$1,665			$14,249	56	47.1	1242	239		061077001198
1004	Mt. Gleason Middle	Public	6-8	10965 Mt. Gleason Ave.	Sunland	91040	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 951-2580	753	41	18.2	81.7%	301 (40.0%)	8 (1.1%)	396 (52.6%)	26 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	21 (2.8%)	$23,222			$4,010			$19,212	56	54.4	1031	27		062271003200
1005	Mariposa Elementary	Public	K-8	5044 Jones St.	Mariposa	95338	Mariposa County	Mariposa County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 742-0340	386	17	22.5	75.6%	233 (60.4%)	3 (0.8%)	102 (26.4%)	3 (0.8%)	10 (2.6%)	1 (0.3%)	34 (8.8%)	$15,498			$1,449			$14,049	55.9	48.9	1198	193		062394003603
1006	California Pacific Charter- Los Angeles	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	940 South Coast Dr. #185	Costa Mesa	92626	Orange County	California Pacific Charter- Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(855) 225-7227	423	40	10.5	69.7%	108 (25.5%)	43 (10.2%)	218 (51.5%)	14 (3.3%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	34 (8.0%)	$14,693			$863			$13,830	55.9	46.6	1266	260		060235413904
1007	Century Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	33 Greta St.	Thousand Oaks	91360	Ventura County	Conejo Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 496-0286	237	17	13.9	21.9%	156 (65.8%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (19.8%)	12 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.3%)	19 (8.0%)	$21,105			$976			$20,129	55.9	67	742	265		060964012664
1008	Dimensions Collaborative	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1441 Montiel Rd. Ste. 143	Escondido	92026	San Diego County	Dimensions Collaborative District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 743-7880	568	27	21.2	38.6%	233 (41.0%)	60 (10.6%)	192 (33.8%)	32 (5.6%)	6 (1.1%)	8 (1.4%)	32 (5.6%)								55.9	57.4	952	56		060199114308
1009	Hillview Middle	Public	6-8	40525 Peonza Ln.	Palmdale	93551	Los Angeles County	Westside Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 722-9993	1,100	45	24.6	53.0%	214 (19.5%)	108 (9.8%)	648 (58.9%)	60 (5.5%)	5 (0.5%)	2 (0.2%)	62 (5.6%)	$15,383			$1,174			$14,209	55.9	53.8	1046	37		064212002217
1010	AIMS College Prep Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	171 12th St.	Oakland	94607	Alameda County	AIMS College Prep Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 893-8701	200	11	18.1	77.5%	13 (6.5%)	91 (45.5%)	28 (14.0%)	44 (22.0%)	1 (0.5%)	2 (1.0%)	21 (10.5%)	$18,280			$2,023			$16,257	55.8	72.2	647	363		060147905673

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

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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

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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