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
2122	San Martin Gwinn Environmental Science Academy	Public	K-8	13745 Llagas Ave.	San Martin	95046	Santa Clara County	Morgan Hill Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 201-6480	643	34	18.8	56.9%	79 (12.3%)	1 (0.2%)	513 (79.8%)	8 (1.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	41 (6.4%)	$16,904			$651			$16,253	22.7	25.1	2032	90		062583003883
2123	Juniper	Public	K-8	375 Ellis St.	Redding	96001	Shasta County	Redding Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 225-0045	227	12	18.5	84.6%	122 (53.7%)	7 (3.1%)	50 (22.0%)	5 (2.2%)	10 (4.4%)	1 (0.4%)	31 (13.7%)	$23,042			$5,920			$17,122	22.7	37.6	1543	580		063204004927
2124	Harriet Tubman Village Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	6880 Mohawk St.	San Diego	92115	San Diego County	Harriet Tubman Village Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 668-8635	446	19	23.3	93.7%	6 (1.3%)	226 (50.7%)	177 (39.7%)	7 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.1%)	25 (5.6%)	$17,888			$644			$17,244	22.7	21	2220	96		060181703943
2125	Briggs Elementary	Public	5-8	14438 West Telegraph Rd.	Santa Paula	93060	Ventura County	Briggs Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 525-7151	221	12	17.6	66.5%	7 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	209 (94.6%)	2 (0.9%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$16,939			$2,060			$14,879	22.7	17.2	2386	261		060603000540
2126	Southeast Middle	Public	6-8	2560 Tweedy Blvd.	South Gate	90280	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 568-3100	1,215	64	18.9	94.7%	25 (2.1%)	15 (1.2%)	1,167 (96.0%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (0.5%)	$21,415			$4,431			$16,984	22.6	24	2085	41		062271010860
2127	Downtown Value	Public, Charter	K-8	950 West Washington Blvd.	Los Angeles	90015	Los Angeles County	Downtown Value District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 748-8868	395	16	24.6	94.9%	1 (0.3%)	4 (1.0%)	386 (97.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	$20,288			$3,487			$16,801	22.6	17.6	2362	235		060190710522
2128	John A. Sutter Middle	Public	6-8	7330 Winnetka Ave.	Canoga Park	91306	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 773-5800	763	50	15.2	92.4%	35 (4.6%)	26 (3.4%)	619 (81.1%)	72 (9.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	10 (1.3%)	$22,818			$4,376			$18,442	22.6	21.2	2213	85		062271003382
2129	Auburndale Intermediate	Public	7-8	1255 River Rd.	Corona	92880	Riverside County	Corona-Norco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 736-3231	640	30	21	89.2%	57 (8.9%)	50 (7.8%)	505 (78.9%)	19 (3.0%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	5 (0.8%)	$19,322			$1,205			$18,117	22.6	25.9	2004	125		060985001046
2130	Livingston Middle	Public	6-8	101 F St.	Livingston	95334	Merced County	Livingston Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 394-5450	809	36	22.7	76.3%	26 (3.2%)	4 (0.5%)	676 (83.6%)	98 (12.1%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	$16,304			$1,351			$14,953	22.5	22.3	2160	30		062217002639
2131	Orcutt School for Independent Study	Public, Virtual	K-8	1220 Oak Knoll Rd.	Santa Maria	93455	Santa Barbara County	Orcutt Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 960-5572	44	2	21.7	72.7%	14 (31.8%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (56.8%)	2 (4.5%)	1 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (4.5%)	$9,596			$00			$9,596	22.5	45.6	1288	843		062871014591

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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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:

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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