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
1151	Lifeline Education Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	225 South Santa Fe Ave.	Compton	90221	Los Angeles County	Lifeline Education Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 885-1872	698	30	22.9	95.0%	8 (1.1%)	105 (15.0%)	584 (83.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	$24,546			$1,072			$23,474	51.3	51.5	1120	31		060168312119
1152	Rafer Johnson Junior High	Public, Charter	7-8	1300 Stroud Ave.	Kingsburg	93631	Fresno County	Kingsburg Elementary Charter	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 897-1091	447	21	20.9	69.1%	111 (24.8%)	3 (0.7%)	304 (68.0%)	13 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (3.6%)	$16,327			$606			$15,721	51.2	58.5	919	233		061980009558
1153	Orange County Educational Arts Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	825 North Broadway	Santa Ana	92701	Orange County	Orange County Educational Arts Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 558-2787	643	32	20	64.1%	30 (4.7%)	1 (0.2%)	590 (91.8%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (3.0%)	$18,415			$941			$17,474	51.1	53.5	1058	95		060224510992
1154	Katherine Johnson STEM Academy	Public	6-8	8701 Parkhill Dr.	Los Angeles	90045	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 673-1230	133	9	14.5	70.7%	9 (6.8%)	68 (51.1%)	35 (26.3%)	4 (3.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (12.0%)	$31,061			$5,801			$25,260	51.1	29.5	1834	680		062271014113
1155	STEAM Academy @ Burke	Public	6-8	8101 Orange Ave.	Pico Rivera	90660	Los Angeles County	El Rancho Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 801-7590	534	23	22.9	82.2%	6 (1.1%)	4 (0.7%)	514 (96.3%)	8 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$19,142			$1,142			$18,000	51.1	46.1	1274	119		061218001370
1156	Dolores S. Whitley Tk-8	Public	K-8	2923 McKee Rd.	Bakersfield	93313	Kern County	Panama-Buena Vista Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 885-6600	1,151	51	22.7	86.6%	61 (5.3%)	50 (4.3%)	816 (70.9%)	180 (15.6%)	8 (0.7%)	4 (0.3%)	32 (2.8%)	$17,305			$1,954			$15,351	51	54.5	1030	126		060639014239
1157	Hollydale	Public	K-8	5511 Century Blvd.	South Gate	90280	Los Angeles County	Paramount Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 602-8016	794	39	20.2	87.9%	9 (1.1%)	8 (1.0%)	765 (96.3%)	9 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	$21,094			$1,864			$19,230	51	43.9	1344	187		062985004648
1158	Virgil Middle	Public	6-8	152 North Vermont Ave.	Los Angeles	90004	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 368-2800	975	59	16.5	96.0%	20 (2.1%)	24 (2.5%)	778 (79.8%)	134 (13.7%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (1.7%)	$22,028			$4,062			$17,966	51	50.5	1156	2		062271003439
1159	Balboa Middle	Public	6-8	247 Hill Rd.	Ventura	93003	Ventura County	Ventura Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 289-1800	845	35	24.2	58.8%	269 (31.8%)	11 (1.3%)	492 (58.2%)	38 (4.5%)	4 (0.5%)	3 (0.4%)	27 (3.2%)	$17,294			$2,335			$14,959	50.9	53.1	1068	91		064098006746
1160	Watsonville Prep	Public, Charter	K-8	407 Main St.	Watsonville	95076	Santa Cruz County	Watsonville Prep District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 217-4883	488	21	23.6	77.0%	5 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	470 (96.3%)	9 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.8%)	$17,474			$1,377			$16,097	50.8			(n/a)		060249714404

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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:

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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