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
2472	Open Valley Independent Study	Public, Alternative	K-12	640 M St.	Patterson	95363	Stanislaus County	Patterson Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 892-4720	100	5	20.5	74.0%	15 (15.0%)	8 (8.0%)	73 (73.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.0%)	$16,426			$2,578			$13,848	14.1			(n/a)		063003013962
2473	Monte Vista Middle	Public	6-8	425 North Lyon Ave.	San Jacinto	92582	Riverside County	San Jacinto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 654-9361	893	48	18.7	90.9%	59 (6.6%)	101 (11.3%)	689 (77.2%)	8 (0.9%)	7 (0.8%)	6 (0.7%)	23 (2.6%)	$11,298			$192			$11,106	14.1	12.8	2559	86		063444005691
2474	Gustine Middle	Public	6-8	28075 Sullivan Rd.	Gustine	95322	Merced County	Gustine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 854-5030	370	19	18.9	84.6%	25 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	336 (90.8%)	5 (1.4%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.8%)	$10,501			$762			$9,739	14.1	12.7	2561	87		061632309842
2475	Stone Corral Elementary	Public	K-8	15590 Avenue 383	Visalia	93292	Tulare County	Stone Corral Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 528-4455	109			100.0%	4 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	104 (95.4%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$25,468			$4,345			$21,123	14			(n/a)		063804006439
2476	Kennedy Elementary	Public	K-8	630 West Ponce de Leon Dr.	Stockton	95210	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7225	511	21	23.9	88.5%	14 (2.7%)	72 (14.1%)	261 (51.1%)	118 (23.1%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.6%)	36 (7.0%)	$15,394			$3,309			$12,085	14	19.2	2290	186		063801006420
2477	Sherman Thomas Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	101 West Adell St.	Madera	93638	Madera County	Sherman Thomas Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 674-1192	233	10	23.3	65.2%	51 (21.9%)	1 (0.4%)	179 (76.8%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	$15,663			$1,443			$14,220	14	21.9	2175	302		060246711160
2478	Vista Norte Public Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	248 East Base Line Rd.	Rialto	92376	San Bernardino County	Vista Norte Public Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 509-5496	667	22	30.2	87.6%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$145,257			$409			$144,848	14	10.3	2656	178		060171514217
2479	Buttonwillow Elementary	Public	K-8	42600 Hwy 58	Buttonwillow	93206	Kern County	Buttonwillow Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 764-5166	288	23	12.4	90.6%	13 (4.5%)	4 (1.4%)	270 (93.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$26,677			$6,429			$20,248	14	28.5	1879	600		060672000594
2480	Natomas Middle	Public	6-8	3200 North Park Dr.	Sacramento	95835	Sacramento County	Natomas Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 567-5540	672	34	19.8	81.3%	59 (8.8%)	215 (32.0%)	178 (26.5%)	139 (20.7%)	4 (0.6%)	12 (1.8%)	65 (9.7%)	$18,361			$1,977			$16,384	14	15.1	2473	7		060003608582
2481	Johnnie Cochran Junior Middle	Public	6-8	4066 West Johnnie Cochran Vist	Los Angeles	90019	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 730-4300	441	28	15.6	94.6%	10 (2.3%)	79 (17.9%)	342 (77.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.3%)	$36,189			$7,274			$28,915	14	13.7	2529	48		062271003202

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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