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
2112	Wilson Middle	Public	7-8	1209 Robertson Blvd.	Chowchilla	93610	Madera County	Chowchilla Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 665-8070	470	22	21.4	89.1%	99 (21.1%)	8 (1.7%)	345 (73.4%)	9 (1.9%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.3%)	$18,564			$1,260			$17,304	22.9	26.4	1978	134		060852000851
2113	Evelyn Hanshaw Middle	Public	7-8	1725 Las Vegas St.	Modesto	95358	Stanislaus County	Modesto City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 574-1794	650	33	19.8	93.2%	19 (2.9%)	9 (1.4%)	574 (88.3%)	17 (2.6%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	28 (4.3%)	$21,933			$3,370			$18,563	22.9	18.1	2340	227		062513010333
2114	Academy of Innovation	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	26866 San Jacinto St.	Hemet	92544	Riverside County	Hemet Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(951) 765-5193	545	32	17	85.7%	85 (15.6%)	29 (5.3%)	383 (70.3%)	9 (1.7%)	4 (0.7%)	4 (0.7%)	31 (5.7%)	$21,781			$2,127			$19,654	22.8	16.9	2405	291		061692009555
2115	Wright Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	4389 Price Ave.	Santa Rosa	95407	Sonoma County	Wright Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 542-0556	456	22	20.8	77.9%	75 (16.4%)	14 (3.1%)	295 (64.7%)	38 (8.3%)	9 (2.0%)	2 (0.4%)	21 (4.6%)	$20,484			$1,710			$18,774	22.8	24.5	2052	63		064320007016
2116	Black Butte Junior High	Public	6-8	7946 Ponderosa Way	Shingletown	96088	Shasta County	Black Butte Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 474-3441	79	5	15.8	67.1%	47 (59.5%)	3 (3.8%)	18 (22.8%)	2 (2.5%)	5 (6.3%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (5.1%)	$4,152			$657			$3,495	22.8	22.7	2139	23		060522007440
2117	Alpha: Blanca Alvarado	Public, Charter	K-8	1601 Cunningham Ave.	San Jose	95122	Santa Clara County	Alpha: Blanca Alvarado District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 780-0831	500	19	25.8	60.2%	5 (1.0%)	1 (0.2%)	462 (92.4%)	21 (4.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.2%)	$19,163			$3,432			$15,731	22.8	39.3	1491	626		060222112989
2118	Great Valley Elementary	Public	K-8	4223 McDougald Blvd.	Stockton	95206	San Joaquin County	Manteca Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 938-6300	983	40	24.5	70.9%	33 (3.4%)	110 (11.2%)	593 (60.3%)	184 (18.7%)	2 (0.2%)	25 (2.5%)	36 (3.7%)	$15,424			$2,339			$13,085	22.8	38.4	1522	596		062361007749
2119	La Paz Middle	Public	7-8	1300 North Sanborn Rd.	Salinas	93905	Monterey County	Salinas Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 796-7900	1,099	55	20	93.4%	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	1,092 (99.4%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	$17,531			$1,847			$15,684	22.8	23.7	2102	17		063398008745
2120	Dr. Julian Nava Learning Academy	Public	6-8	1420 East Adams Blvd.	Los Angeles	90011	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 846-2200	572	32	17.6	98.6%	2 (0.3%)	26 (4.5%)	541 (94.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	$22,575			$5,715			$16,860	22.7	18.2	2331	211		062271012896
2121	Yuba City Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	256 Wilbur Ave.	Yuba City	95991	Sutter County	Yuba City Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 822-9667	256	20	12.7	84.4%	44 (17.2%)	2 (0.8%)	184 (71.9%)	13 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	12 (4.7%)								22.7	20.1	2258	137		060199608658

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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

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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