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
2492	Martin Luther King Junior Middle	Public	7-8	601 Lilly St.	Madera	93638	Madera County	Madera Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 674-4681	865	49	17.6	96.9%	16 (1.8%)	7 (0.8%)	829 (95.8%)	5 (0.6%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.6%)	$20,071			$3,628			$16,443	13.6	14.9	2482	10		062334004613
2493	Park Middle	Public	6-8	1 Spartan Way	Antioch	94509	Contra Costa County	Antioch Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 779-7420	1,055	48	22.2	89.3%	107 (10.1%)	218 (20.7%)	609 (57.7%)	61 (5.8%)	5 (0.5%)	11 (1.0%)	44 (4.2%)	$16,904			$2,355			$14,549	13.6	15.4	2463	30		060285000216
2494	Standard Middle	Public	6-8	126 Ferguson Ave.	Bakersfield	93308	Kern County	Standard Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 392-2130	1,005	49	20.3	89.9%	399 (39.7%)	52 (5.2%)	509 (50.6%)	7 (0.7%)	7 (0.7%)	3 (0.3%)	28 (2.8%)	$17,066			$882			$16,184	13.6	13.4	2535	41		063789006391
2495	Northern Summit Academy Shasta	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2301 Balls Ferry Rd.	Anderson	96007	Shasta County	Northern Summit Academy Shasta District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 338-1399	215	15	14.5	67.4%	144 (67.0%)	1 (0.5%)	37 (17.2%)	2 (0.9%)	5 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (11.6%)	$15,861			$1,560			$14,301	13.6	20.1	2257	238		060233813799
2496	La Mirada Academy	Public	K-8	3697 La Mirada Dr.	San Marcos	92078	San Diego County	San Marcos Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 290-2000	868	37	23.3	77.4%	37 (4.3%)	3 (0.3%)	785 (90.4%)	26 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	14 (1.6%)	$17,841			$1,747			$16,094	13.6	17.2	2382	114		063488005889
2497	Big Pine Elementary	Public	K-8	500 South Main St.	Big Pine	93513	Inyo County	Big Pine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 938-2222	121	9	12.8	52.9%	30 (24.8%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (38.0%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (25.6%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (11.6%)	$36,186			$2,508			$33,678	13.6	25.9	2002	495		060495000479
2498	Trona High	Public	7-12	83600 Trona Rd.	Trona	93562	San Bernardino County	Trona Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 372-2824	111	10	11.6	73.9%	65 (58.6%)	5 (4.5%)	39 (35.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	$32,734			$5,563			$27,171	13.6	7	2734	236		063984006609
2499	Chino Valley Learning Academy	Public	7-12	15650 Pipeline Ave.	Chino Hills	91709	San Bernardino County	Chino Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 628-1201	27	3	9.5	92.6%	3 (11.1%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (81.5%)	2 (7.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								13.5	11	2633	134		060846010607
2499	Olive Grove Charter - Lompoc	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	820 North H St. Suites BCD	Lompoc	93436	Santa Barbara County	Olive Grove Charter - Lompoc District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 623-1111	125	7	18.7	84.0%	25 (20.0%)	0 (0.0%)	91 (72.8%)	1 (0.8%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.8%)	$14,389			$3,412			$10,977	13.5			(n/a)		060213214218
2501	Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy	Public	6-12	1700 West 46th St.	Los Angeles	90062	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 421-1700	293	23	13	95.2%	6 (2.0%)	62 (21.2%)	214 (73.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (3.4%)	$31,486			$6,142			$25,344	13.5	9	2696	195		062271012771

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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.