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
2742	San Bernardino County Special Education	Public, Alternative	K-12	1950 S Sunwest Ln.	San Bernardino	92408	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 387-8511	1,860	164	11.3	74.8%	269 (14.5%)	250 (13.4%)	1,130 (60.8%)	77 (4.1%)	12 (0.6%)	5 (0.3%)	116 (6.2%)	$78,920			$3,899			$75,021	4.6	5.7	2758	16		069102907174
2743	San Bernardino County Juve Detention and Assessment Center	Public, Alternative	K-12	900 Gilbert St.	San Bernardino	92415	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 387-7490	113	7	16.2	97.3%	7 (6.2%)	37 (32.7%)	65 (57.5%)	1 (0.9%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	$50,096			$6,007			$44,089	4.5			(n/a)		069102909241
2744	Petersen Alternative Center for Education at John B Allard	Public	6-12	3113 Mitchell Rd.	Ceres	95307	Stanislaus County	Stanislaus County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 238-6717	138	8	16.4	86.2%	23 (16.7%)	5 (3.6%)	105 (76.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.7%)	1 (0.7%)	2 (1.4%)	$32,868			$11,890			$20,978	4.5	5.4	2763	19		069104107887
2745	High Desert Premier Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	21950 Nisqually Rd.	Apple Valley	92308	San Bernardino County	Apple Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 240-4252	208	14	14.9	80.8%	50 (24.0%)	10 (4.8%)	137 (65.9%)	5 (2.4%)	2 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.9%)	$20,702			$2,332			$18,370	4.5			(n/a)		060001708588
2746	Madera County Independent Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1635 East Olive Ave.	Madera	93638	Madera County	Madera County Superintendent of Schools	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 662-4640	61	2	25.4	88.5%	5 (8.2%)	2 (3.3%)	52 (85.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.3%)	$20,227			$5,052			$15,175	4.4	8.5	2707	39		069101712301
2747	Valley Atwater Community	Public	6-12	1800 Matthew Ave.	Atwater	95301	Merced County	Merced County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 381-4550	122	8	15.6	94.3%	14 (11.5%)	3 (2.5%)	100 (82.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.3%)	$20,948			$1,944			$19,004	4.3	8.7	2702	45		069102010961
2748	Happy Camp Union Elementary	Public	K-8	114 Park Way	Happy Camp	96039	Siskiyou County	Happy Camp Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 493-2267	79	5	15.8	36.7%	27 (34.2%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (7.6%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (38.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (20.3%)								4.3			(n/a)		061653002087
2749	Ripperdan Community Day	Public	7-12	26133 Ave. 7	Madera	93637	Madera County	Madera Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 674-0059	49	7	6.8	98.0%	2 (4.1%)	4 (8.2%)	42 (85.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.0%)	$50,707			$10,558			$40,149	4.3			(n/a)		062334013848
2750	Santa Barbara County Community	Public	5-12	4400 Cathedral Oaks Rd.	Santa Barbara	93110	Santa Barbara County	Santa Barbara County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 967-5307	27	4	6.7	88.9%	1 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (96.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$68,373			$00			$68,373	4.3	4.8	2780	30		069103410658
2751	Alba	Public, Alternative	1-12	4041 Oregon St.	San Diego	92104	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 344-3900	20	8	2.4	85.0%	1 (5.0%)	3 (15.0%)	14 (70.0%)	1 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (5.0%)	$216,955			$6,375			$210,580	4.2			(n/a)		063432007682

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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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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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