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
1932	Serrano Middle	Public	7-8	3131 Piedmont Dr.	Highland	92346	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 388-6530	716	41	17.3	92.9%	23 (3.2%)	66 (9.2%)	591 (82.5%)	18 (2.5%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	16 (2.2%)	$24,714			$5,253			$19,461	26.8	28.8	1866	66		063417005386
1933	STREAM Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	455E Oro Dam Blvd. East	Oroville	95965	Butte County	STREAM Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 534-1633	515	22	23.3	58.4%	285 (55.3%)	5 (1.0%)	81 (15.7%)	56 (10.9%)	12 (2.3%)	1 (0.2%)	75 (14.6%)	$15,413			$470			$14,943	26.6	59.8	892	1041		060205713790
1934	Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts	Public, Charter	K-8	756 Humboldt St.	Santa Rosa	95404	Sonoma County	Santa Rosa Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 890-3920	384	20	19.3	45.8%	238 (62.0%)	7 (1.8%)	98 (25.5%)	5 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (8.6%)	$20,543			$1,245			$19,298	26.6	34.4	1652	282		063581011850
1935	Sylvandale Middle	Public	7-8	653 Sylvandale Ave.	San Jose	95111	Santa Clara County	Franklin-McKinley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 363-5700	330	17	19.5	74.5%	4 (1.2%)	7 (2.1%)	213 (64.5%)	99 (30.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.8%)	$26,238			$3,788			$22,450	26.6	23.9	2090	155		061437001653
1936	Palermo Middle	Public	6-8	7350 Bulldog Way	Palermo	95968	Butte County	Palermo Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 533-4708	458	24	18.7	76.0%	193 (42.1%)	5 (1.1%)	158 (34.5%)	22 (4.8%)	14 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	66 (14.4%)	$19,806			$2,006			$17,800	26.6	24.4	2064	128		062954004558
1937	Vina Danks Middle	Public	7-8	1020 North Vine Ave.	Ontario	91762	San Bernardino County	Ontario-Montclair	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 983-2691	544	33	16.2	90.3%	12 (2.2%)	15 (2.8%)	496 (91.2%)	9 (1.7%)	7 (1.3%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)	$26,991			$5,213			$21,778	26.6	23.4	2112	175		062847004414
1938	Rancho San Justo	Public	6-8	1201 Rancho Dr.	Hollister	95023	San Benito County	Hollister	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 636-4450	653	32	20.4	69.4%	69 (10.6%)	13 (2.0%)	516 (79.0%)	20 (3.1%)	2 (0.3%)	4 (0.6%)	29 (4.4%)	$12,309			$1,638			$10,671	26.5	23.7	2101	163		061734002181
1939	Mae Hensley Junior High	Public	7-8	1806 Moffet Rd.	Ceres	95307	Stanislaus County	Ceres Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 556-1820	636	28	23.1	93.1%	68 (10.7%)	10 (1.6%)	523 (82.2%)	25 (3.9%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	5 (0.8%)	$17,998			$1,743			$16,255	26.5	26.3	1986	47		060813000787
1940	Benjamin Franklin Intermediate	Public	6-8	700 Stewart Ave.	Colma	94015	San Mateo County	Jefferson Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 991-1202	497	28	17.9	48.3%	40 (8.0%)	7 (1.4%)	236 (47.5%)	191 (38.4%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.2%)	17 (3.4%)	$17,860			$1,982			$15,878	26.5	27.8	1909	31		061887002278
1941	Santiago Elementary	Public	K-8	2212 North Baker St.	Santa Ana	92706	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 564-8400	906	40	22.4	76.8%	26 (2.9%)	8 (0.9%)	824 (90.9%)	22 (2.4%)	2 (0.2%)	10 (1.1%)	14 (1.5%)	$24,167			$1,013			$23,154	26.5	27.6	1917	24		063531006006

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.