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
1512	John Sutter Middle	Public	6-8	701 East Walter	Fowler	93625	Fresno County	Fowler Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 834-6180	579	28	20.4	82.0%	39 (6.7%)	5 (0.9%)	481 (83.1%)	42 (7.3%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.6%)	$11,207			$1,126			$10,081	39.2	51.4	1126	386		061425007496
1513	Calistoga Junior/Senior High	Public	7-12	1608 Lake St.	Calistoga	94515	Napa County	Calistoga Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 942-6278	355	24	14.7	88.2%	31 (8.7%)	1 (0.3%)	317 (89.3%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.1%)	$30,273			$428			$29,845	39.2	45.4	1300	213		060702000647
1514	Leroy Greene Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	2950 West River Dr.	Sacramento	95833	Sacramento County	Natomas Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 567-5560	755	40	19	63.0%	116 (15.4%)	103 (13.6%)	334 (44.2%)	118 (15.6%)	2 (0.3%)	9 (1.2%)	73 (9.7%)	$14,268			$1,261			$13,007	39.1	45.8	1283	231		060003613189
1515	Scholarship Prep - Orange County	Public, Charter	K-8	1010 West 17th St.	Santa Ana	92706	Orange County	Scholarship Prep - Orange County District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 795-3498	615	24	25.7	92.2%	6 (1.0%)	3 (0.5%)	589 (95.8%)	9 (1.5%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	4 (0.7%)	$23,170			$3,048			$20,122	39.1	35.9	1592	77		060175414060
1516	Martin Luther King Junior Middle	Public	7-8	26890 Holly Hill Ave.	Hayward	94545	Alameda County	Hayward Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 723-3120	669	30	22.4	82.8%	12 (1.8%)	35 (5.2%)	458 (68.5%)	112 (16.7%)	2 (0.3%)	26 (3.9%)	23 (3.4%)	$21,847			$2,412			$19,435	39.1	40.3	1449	67		061674002107
1517	Letha Raney Intermediate	Public	6-8	1010 West Citron St.	Corona	92882	Riverside County	Corona-Norco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 736-3221	537	30	18.1	90.1%	34 (6.3%)	23 (4.3%)	409 (76.2%)	57 (10.6%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	10 (1.9%)	$19,669			$1,493			$18,176	39.1	37.1	1565	48		060985001063
1518	Shirakawa (George Senior) Elementary	Public	K-8	665 Wool Creek Dr.	San Jose	95112	Santa Clara County	Franklin-McKinley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 283-6086	508	22	23	82.7%	22 (4.3%)	9 (1.8%)	290 (57.1%)	165 (32.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (4.1%)	$24,789			$3,777			$21,012	39.1	57	962	556		061437008352
1519	Diamond View Middle	Public	6-8	850 Richmond Rd.	Susanville	96130	Lassen County	Susanville Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 257-5144	288	11	26.4	72.6%	160 (55.6%)	3 (1.0%)	73 (25.3%)	5 (1.7%)	16 (5.6%)	10 (3.5%)	21 (7.3%)	$14,755			$2,222			$12,533	39	33.9	1675	156		063855006471
1520	Mitchell Intermediate	Public	7-8	1753 Fifth St.	Atwater	95301	Merced County	Atwater Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 357-6124	744	31	23.8	75.9%	97 (13.0%)	15 (2.0%)	577 (77.6%)	37 (5.0%)	3 (0.4%)	3 (0.4%)	12 (1.6%)	$16,502			$2,752			$13,750	38.9	43.6	1352	168		060342000260
1521	John Barrett Middle	Public	6-8	4243 Barrett Rd.	Carmichael	95608	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 971-7842	802	33	24.1	55.0%	433 (54.0%)	38 (4.7%)	189 (23.6%)	61 (7.6%)	4 (0.5%)	5 (0.6%)	72 (9.0%)	$16,210			$1,647			$14,563	38.9	39.9	1468	53		063462005755

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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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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.