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
2572	Vista Verde Middle	Public	7-8	1199 Elm Ave.	Greenfield	93927	Monterey County	Greenfield Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 674-1420	727	34	21.2	80.5%	6 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	715 (98.3%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$20,986			$3,187			$17,799	11.3	17.6	2364	208		061608002266
2573	Nicolet Middle	Public	6-8	101 East Nicolet St.	Banning	92220	Riverside County	Banning Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 922-0280	966	44	21.8	91.1%	97 (10.0%)	65 (6.7%)	718 (74.3%)	47 (4.9%)	22 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (1.7%)	$13,246			$1,377			$11,869	11.3	14.2	2505	68		060384003574
2574	E. Ruth Sheldon Academy of Innovative Learning	Public	K-8	1901 Woolner Ave.	Fairfield	94533	Solano County	Fairfield-Suisun Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 421-4150	492	19	25.8	93.1%	22 (4.5%)	40 (8.1%)	363 (73.8%)	35 (7.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	30 (6.1%)	$15,822			$1,804			$14,018	11.3	13.1	2544	30		061336001527
2575	Price Intermediate	Public	6-8	1212 Marin St.	Orland	95963	Glenn County	Orland Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 865-1225	449	27	16.3	91.5%	90 (20.0%)	1 (0.2%)	339 (75.5%)	9 (2.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.6%)	$18,607			$2,225			$16,382	11.3	10.2	2659	84		060004507093
2576	Pleasant View Elementary	Public	K-8	14004 Road 184	Porterville	93257	Tulare County	Pleasant View Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 784-6769	446	23	19	91.3%	18 (4.0%)	1 (0.2%)	399 (89.5%)	26 (5.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$20,270			$1,656			$18,614	11.3	13.1	2547	29		063105004809
2577	Dolores Huerta Elementary	Public	K-8	1644 South Lincoln	Stockton	95206	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7220	453	13	34.3	91.2%	1 (0.2%)	12 (2.6%)	419 (92.5%)	13 (2.9%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.1%)	$12,809			$3,011			$9,798	11.3	13.7	2530	47		063801010392
2578	Acacia Middle	Public	6-8	1200 East Acacia Ave.	Hemet	92543	Riverside County	Hemet Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 765-1620	958	44	21.9	94.8%	92 (9.6%)	98 (10.2%)	720 (75.2%)	15 (1.6%)	4 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	28 (2.9%)	$18,911			$2,494			$16,417	11.3	14.2	2508	70		061692002148
2579	Duane E. Furman Independent Study	Public, Alternative	K-12	955 West Pecan Ave.	Madera	93637	Madera County	Madera Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 675-4482	348	18	19.6	92.2%	21 (6.0%)	6 (1.7%)	304 (87.4%)	8 (2.3%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.4%)	$23,552			$7,896			$15,656	11.3	16.1	2431	148		062334004611
2580	Solano Widenmann Leadership Academy	Public	K-8	1025 Corcoran Ave.	Vallejo	94589	Solano County	Vallejo City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 556-8740	615	31	20.1	83.3%	16 (2.6%)	128 (20.8%)	342 (55.6%)	85 (13.8%)	4 (0.7%)	11 (1.8%)	29 (4.7%)	$27,476			$3,324			$24,152	11.2	9.7	2674	94		064074006723
2581	Lake Los Angeles Elementary	Public	K-8	16310 East Avenue Q	Palmdale	93591	Los Angeles County	Keppel Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 264-3700	533	23	23.1	63.8%	28 (5.3%)	16 (3.0%)	483 (90.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)	$21,607			$2,093			$19,514	11.2	13.5	2532	49		061944008861

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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

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.