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
1011	International School of Monterey	Public, Charter	K-8	1720 Yosemite St.	Seaside	93955	Monterey County	International School of Monterey District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 583-2165	439	21	21.3	32.1%	91 (20.7%)	23 (5.2%)	221 (50.3%)	46 (10.5%)	4 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	53 (12.1%)	$16,446			$441			$16,005	55.8	57.5	946	65		060156708744
1012	Leadership & Public Service Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	474 Hartford Ave.	Los Angeles	90017	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(213) 316-9840	573	21	27.1	91.8%	48 (8.4%)	77 (13.4%)	419 (73.1%)	13 (2.3%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	13 (2.3%)	$18,805			$3,594			$15,211	55.8	28.6	1874	862		062271014634
1013	Whitmore Charter School of Art & Technology	Public, Charter	K-8	3435 Don Pedro Rd.	Ceres	95307	Stanislaus County	Ceres Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 556-1610	435	22	19.6	48.7%	120 (27.6%)	3 (0.7%)	231 (53.1%)	68 (15.6%)	4 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	8 (1.8%)	$13,134			$1,689			$11,445	55.7	50.3	1166	153		060813011487
1014	Summit Charter Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	175 South Mathew St.	Porterville	93257	Tulare County	Burton Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 782-5902	2,423	107	22.7	72.5%	278 (11.5%)	4 (0.2%)	1,972 (81.4%)	44 (1.8%)	20 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	103 (4.3%)	$19,050			$1,737			$17,313	55.6	57.6	945	69		060657011526
1015	Unidos Middle	Public	6-8	1850 Salvador Ave	Napa	94558	Napa County	Napa Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 253-6813	599	26	23	61.1%	132 (22.0%)	4 (0.7%)	452 (75.5%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.5%)	$16,357			$1,418			$14,939	55.5	45.6	1289	274		062664004695
1016	Sierra Vista Middle	Public	6-8	777 East Puente St.	Covina	91723	Los Angeles County	Covina-Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 974-7300	778	36	21.6	68.3%	47 (6.0%)	29 (3.7%)	592 (76.1%)	92 (11.8%)	3 (0.4%)	3 (0.4%)	12 (1.5%)	$21,171			$1,422			$19,749	55.5	48.6	1203	187		061005001104
1017	Hollencrest Middle	Public	6-8	2101 East Merced Ave.	West Covina	91791	Los Angeles County	West Covina Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 931-1760	737	30	24.5	80.9%	19 (2.6%)	15 (2.0%)	519 (70.4%)	163 (22.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (2.8%)	$19,360			$1,716			$17,644	55.5	58.6	916	101		064200004607
1018	JCS - Pine Hills	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	29141 Vallejo Ave.	Temecula	92592	Riverside County	JCS - Pine Hills District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 765-5500	745	41	18.3	43.4%	330 (44.3%)	32 (4.3%)	260 (34.9%)	19 (2.6%)	13 (1.7%)	3 (0.4%)	88 (11.8%)	$14,830			$339			$14,491	55.4	67.2	737	281		060159214346
1019	Menifee Valley Middle	Public	6-8	26255 Garbani Rd.	Menifee	92584	Riverside County	Menifee Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 672-6400	941	40	23.7	62.5%	207 (22.0%)	54 (5.7%)	479 (50.9%)	42 (4.5%)	2 (0.2%)	5 (0.5%)	151 (16.0%)	$16,537			$1,155			$15,382	55.4	54.4	1032	13		062454009402
1020	Empire Springs Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	27740 Jefferson Ave.	Temecula	92590	Riverside County	Empire Springs Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 252-8800	1,854	66	28	60.6%	547 (29.5%)	129 (7.0%)	988 (53.3%)	59 (3.2%)	10 (0.5%)	11 (0.6%)	110 (5.9%)								55.4	47.9	1218	198		060170113671

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on 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.