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
1842	Nicolas Junior High	Public	7-8	1100 West Olive Ave.	Fullerton	92833	Orange County	Fullerton Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 447-7775	539	30	18.2	82.6%	19 (3.5%)	10 (1.9%)	470 (87.2%)	19 (3.5%)	4 (0.7%)	5 (0.9%)	12 (2.2%)	$19,828			$1,020			$18,808	29.7	39.2	1497	345		061473001798
1843	Alpine Vista Middle	Public	5-8	2975 East Alpine Ave.	Tulare	93274	Tulare County	Tulare City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 685-7200	617	28	21.8	48.3%	145 (23.5%)	28 (4.5%)	417 (67.6%)	14 (2.3%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	9 (1.5%)	$17,186			$2,945			$14,241	29.6	23.4	2109	266		063987014661
1844	South Valley Middle	Public	6-8	7881 Murray Ave.	Gilroy	95020	Santa Clara County	Gilroy Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(669) 205-5200	784	34	23.1	55.6%	41 (5.2%)	8 (1.0%)	631 (80.5%)	43 (5.5%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (7.4%)	$17,082			$1,682			$15,400	29.6	35.7	1600	244		061518001918
1845	Grandview College Preparatory Academy	Public	6-8	795 North Grandview Ln.	La Puente	91744	Los Angeles County	Hacienda la Puente Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 933-4901	388	20	19	84.8%	2 (0.5%)	9 (2.3%)	339 (87.4%)	29 (7.5%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.1%)	$21,552			$1,601			$19,951	29.5	21.7	2189	344		061632511364
1846	Imperial Middle	Public	6-8	1450 South Schoolwood Dr.	La Habra	90631	Orange County	La Habra City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 690-2344	495	23	21	83.4%	36 (7.3%)	5 (1.0%)	418 (84.4%)	25 (5.1%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.8%)	$134,765			$17,161			$117,604	29.5	39	1507	339		062019002412
1847	La Contenta Middle	Public	7-8	7050 La Contenta Rd.	Yucca Valley	92284	San Bernardino County	Morongo Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 228-1802	647	33	19.5	70.2%	349 (53.9%)	30 (4.6%)	232 (35.9%)	8 (1.2%)	8 (1.2%)	6 (0.9%)	13 (2.0%)	$18,506			$2,380			$16,126	29.4	28.6	1875	28		062586009163
1848	Rancho Cucamonga Middle	Public	6-8	10022 Feron Blvd.	Rancho Cucamonga	91730	San Bernardino County	Cucamonga Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 980-0969	770	43	17.7	82.2%	38 (4.9%)	139 (18.1%)	522 (67.8%)	40 (5.2%)	1 (0.1%)	7 (0.9%)	23 (3.0%)	$23,912			$1,679			$22,233	29.4	25.9	2003	155		061630001112
1849	David A. Brown Middle	Public	6-8	21861 Grand Ave.	Wildomar	92595	Riverside County	Lake Elsinore Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 253-7430	1,030	41	24.9	78.9%	196 (19.0%)	43 (4.2%)	690 (67.0%)	38 (3.7%)	1 (0.1%)	7 (0.7%)	55 (5.3%)	$15,705			$1,841			$13,864	29.4	30.4	1794	55		060002705011
1850	Edgewood Middle	Public	6-8	1625 West Durness	West Covina	91790	Los Angeles County	West Covina Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 939-4900	597	29	20.8	82.4%	19 (3.2%)	12 (2.0%)	478 (80.1%)	76 (12.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (2.0%)	$20,791			$2,790			$18,001	29.3	31.2	1759	91		064200009463
1851	Lindsey Academy	Public	6-8	5075 Daisy Ave.	Long Beach	90805	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 423-6451	684	33	21	80.7%	4 (0.6%)	112 (16.4%)	502 (73.4%)	36 (5.3%)	3 (0.4%)	11 (1.6%)	16 (2.3%)	$20,099			$3,927			$16,172	29.3	25.4	2016	165		062250012117

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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