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
1662	Alliance Ouchi-O'Donovan 6-12 Complex	Public, Charter	6-12	5356 South Fifth Ave.	Los Angeles	90043	Los Angeles County	Alliance Ouchi-O'Donovan 6-12 Complex District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 596-2290	998	46	21.4	95.9%	2 (0.2%)	95 (9.5%)	890 (89.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (1.1%)	$20,410			$2,136			$18,274	34.5	32.8	1712	50		060226611641
1663	Shasta Lake	Public	K-8	4620 Vallecito St.	Shasta Lake	96019	Shasta County	Gateway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 275-7020	602	33	18.5	77.1%	408 (67.8%)	3 (0.5%)	89 (14.8%)	13 (2.2%)	34 (5.6%)	1 (0.2%)	53 (8.8%)	$20,975			$3,558			$17,417	34.5	26.7	1968	305		061495011804
1664	Reseda Charter High	Public, Charter	6-12	18230 Kittridge St.	Reseda	91335	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 758-3600	1,339	76	17.6	88.3%	171 (12.8%)	44 (3.3%)	1,002 (74.8%)	87 (6.5%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.4%)	30 (2.2%)	$25,971			$4,915			$21,056	34.5	51.5	1122	542		062271003301
1665	Sierra Vista Middle	Public	6-8	15801 Sierra Vista Ct.	La Puente	91744	Los Angeles County	Hacienda la Puente Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 933-4000	270	13	20.7	80.0%	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	254 (94.1%)	11 (4.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.5%)	$23,265			$1,641			$21,624	34.5	30.6	1789	124		061632502062
1666	Antioch Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	3325 Hacienda Way	Antioch	94509	Contra Costa County	Antioch Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 755-7311	202	11	19	30.7%	47 (23.3%)	22 (10.9%)	83 (41.1%)	34 (16.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	15 (7.4%)	$14,667			$344			$14,323	34.4	61.9	841	825		060202707493
1667	Thomas Edison Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	3531 22nd St.	San Francisco	94114	San Francisco County	Thomas Edison Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 970-3330	574	28	20.4	71.3%	58 (10.1%)	15 (2.6%)	450 (78.4%)	20 (3.5%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.5%)	25 (4.4%)	$19,844			$3,239			$16,605	34.3	29.7	1820	153		060205410388
1668	Bud Carson Middle	Public	6-8	13838 South Yukon Ave.	Hawthorne	90250	Los Angeles County	Hawthorne	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 676-1908	601	25	23.9	94.5%	6 (1.0%)	184 (30.6%)	382 (63.6%)	7 (1.2%)	1 (0.2%)	7 (1.2%)	14 (2.3%)	$21,098			$4,945			$16,153	34.3	36.6	1580	88		061668002100
1669	KIPP University Park	Public, Charter	K-8	820 North American St.	Stockton	95202	San Joaquin County	KIPP University Park District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 741-7924	427	23	18.5	91.3%	17 (4.0%)	76 (17.8%)	297 (69.6%)	9 (2.1%)	3 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	24 (5.6%)	$30,680			$908			$29,772	34.2	20.3	2253	584		060257514623
1670	Vista Heights Middle	Public	6-8	23049 Old Lake Dr.	Moreno Valley	92557	Riverside County	Moreno Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 571-4300	1,419	66	21.4	80.3%	108 (7.6%)	183 (12.9%)	1,005 (70.8%)	55 (3.9%)	2 (0.1%)	4 (0.3%)	62 (4.4%)	$18,441			$2,243			$16,198	34.2	37.2	1555	115		062580009159
1671	Highland Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	715 Wellwood Ave.	Beaumont	92223	Riverside County	Highland Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 266-0220	331	17	19.4	38.1%	123 (37.2%)	9 (2.7%)	164 (49.5%)	14 (4.2%)	4 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (5.1%)	$13,361			$1,015			$12,346	34.2	47.1	1243	428		060207313150

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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

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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