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
81	Miller's Hill	Public	4-8	7900 South Shingle Rd.	Shingle Springs	95682	El Dorado County	Latrobe	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 677-0260	77	5	15.4	27.3%	57 (74.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (13.0%)	2 (2.6%)	1 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (9.1%)	$18,377			$318			$18,059	97.1	88.4	311	230		062118008151
82	Arroyo Vista Middle	Public	6-8	23371 Arroyo Vista	Rancho Santa Margarita	92688	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5951	329	16	20.8	19.8%	196 (59.6%)	1 (0.3%)	41 (12.5%)	48 (14.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (13.1%)	$20,963			$1,500			$19,463	97	97.3	83	1		060744011701
83	Mill Valley Middle	Public	6-8	425 Sycamore Ave.	Mill Valley	94941	Marin County	Mill Valley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 389-7711	721	46	15.6	6.2%	522 (72.4%)	5 (0.7%)	72 (10.0%)	42 (5.8%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	77 (10.7%)	$23,545			$221			$23,324	97	97.9	57	26		062487003712
84	Discovery Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	1100 Camino Biscay	Chula Vista	91910	San Diego County	Discovery Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 656-0797	945	39	24.2	31.4%	77 (8.1%)	21 (2.2%)	651 (68.9%)	125 (13.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	69 (7.3%)	$13,119			$266			$12,853	97	92.7	214	130		060229002633
85	Sycamore Canyon	Public	K-8	4601 Via Rio	Newbury Park	91320	Ventura County	Conejo Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 498-1573	937	41	22.7	5.4%	500 (53.4%)	8 (0.9%)	123 (13.1%)	218 (23.3%)	2 (0.2%)	4 (0.4%)	82 (8.8%)	$15,858			$1,078			$14,780	97	97.5	75	10		060964010454
86	Iron Horse Middle	Public	6-8	12601 Alcosta Blvd.	San Ramon	94583	Contra Costa County	San Ramon Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 824-2820	939	42	22.5	9.9%	191 (20.3%)	25 (2.7%)	100 (10.6%)	528 (56.2%)	4 (0.4%)	4 (0.4%)	86 (9.2%)	$14,787			$346			$14,441	97	96.3	111	25		063513005729
87	Pine Valley Middle	Public	6-8	3000 Pine Valley Rd.	San Ramon	94583	Contra Costa County	San Ramon Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 479-7700	973	39	24.9	6.8%	289 (29.7%)	11 (1.1%)	96 (9.9%)	480 (49.3%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	93 (9.6%)	$13,643			$322			$13,321	97	97.3	80	7		063513005955
88	Sebastian Questa Elementary	Public	K-8	685 North Montebello St.	Mountain House	95391	San Joaquin County	Lammersville Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 836-7230	822	37	22.2	8.2%	81 (9.9%)	32 (3.9%)	104 (12.7%)	533 (64.8%)	5 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	67 (8.2%)	$11,826			$234			$11,592	96.9	95.5	135	47		060141012551
89	Rancho San Joaquin Middle	Public	7-8	4861 Michelson Dr.	Irvine	92612	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6500	860	35	24.3	22.3%	224 (26.0%)	23 (2.7%)	105 (12.2%)	428 (49.8%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	77 (9.0%)	$14,938			$821			$14,117	96.8	97.6	73	16		068450007062
90	Manhattan Beach Middle	Public	6-8	1501 North Redondo Ave.	Manhattan Beach	90266	Los Angeles County	Manhattan Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 545-4878	1,175	54	21.9	5.3%	668 (56.9%)	10 (0.9%)	153 (13.0%)	161 (13.7%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	180 (15.3%)	$17,161			$1,537			$15,624	96.8	97.2	86	4		060002507535

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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.