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
1031	Frank M. Wright Middle	Public	6-8	885 North Imperial Ave.	Imperial	92251	Imperial County	Imperial Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 355-3240	1,116	49	22.6	54.7%	77 (6.9%)	5 (0.4%)	1,014 (90.9%)	10 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	8 (0.7%)	$14,293			$2,251			$12,042	55	56.5	980	51		061821002241
1032	Sherman Oaks Elementary	Public, Charter	K-8	1800 Fruitdale Ave.	San Jose	95128	Santa Clara County	Campbell Union	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 795-1140	524	22	23.8	59.0%	37 (7.1%)	5 (1.0%)	468 (89.3%)	7 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.3%)	$20,988			$1,150			$19,838	55	52.6	1088	56		060720007427
1033	Greater San Diego Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	14545 Lyons Valley Rd.	Jamul	91935	San Diego County	Greater San Diego Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 669-3050	209	9	23.1	61.7%	119 (56.9%)	7 (3.3%)	58 (27.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (10.5%)	$12,721			$132			$12,589	54.9	77.3	544	489		060212908302
1034	Mistletoe Elementary	Public	K-8	1225 Mistletoe Ln.	Redding	96002	Shasta County	Enterprise Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 224-4160	682	28	24.3	71.4%	356 (52.2%)	14 (2.1%)	164 (24.0%)	52 (7.6%)	21 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	75 (11.0%)	$14,804			$1,301			$13,503	54.9	49.1	1194	160		061281001441
1035	Citrus Middle	Public	6-8	1400 Anchor Ave.	Orange Cove	93646	Fresno County	Kings Canyon Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 305-7370	602	27	22.2	96.8%	7 (1.2%)	6 (1.0%)	583 (96.8%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	$20,304			$2,502			$17,802	54.9	47.9	1220	185		061970002364
1036	Wildflower Open Classroom	Public, Charter	K-8	2414 Cohasset Rd. Ste. 3	Chico	95926	Butte County	Wildflower Open Classroom District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 892-1676	183	11	17.4	41.5%	133 (72.7%)	7 (3.8%)	25 (13.7%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (8.7%)	$14,658			$642			$14,016	54.8	61.8	844	192		060223912755
1037	The Academy of Alameda	Public, Charter	K-8	401 Pacific Ave.	Alameda	94501	Alameda County	The Academy of Alameda District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 748-4017	638	29	21.7	49.8%	92 (14.4%)	131 (20.5%)	147 (23.0%)	153 (24.0%)	5 (0.8%)	6 (0.9%)	99 (15.5%)	$17,417			$1,057			$16,360	54.8	73.9	613	424		060164200042
1038	Marshall Fundamental	Public	6-12	990 North Allen Ave.	Pasadena	91104	Los Angeles County	Pasadena Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 396-5810	1,689	79	21.4		345 (20.4%)	97 (5.7%)	1,047 (62.0%)	120 (7.1%)	2 (0.1%)	6 (0.4%)	69 (4.1%)	$23,911			$3,362			$20,549	54.8	52.4	1093	55		062994004679
1039	Sierra Vista K-8	Public	K-8	301 Bel Air Dr.	Vacaville	95687	Solano County	Vacaville Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 453-6260	611	27	22.5	48.1%	270 (44.2%)	32 (5.2%)	196 (32.1%)	42 (6.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	69 (11.3%)	$14,637			$1,136			$13,501	54.8	67	743	296		064059014012
1040	Rise Kohyang Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	600 South Lafayette Park Pl.	Los Angeles	90057	Los Angeles County	Rise Kohyang Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(424) 789-8338	280	12	23.3	93.6%	4 (1.4%)	14 (5.0%)	223 (79.6%)	38 (13.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	$24,308			$3,118			$21,190	54.8	43	1372	332		060172312852

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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:

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

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.