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
1462	Trivium Charter	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1550 South College Dr.	Santa Maria	93454	Santa Barbara County	Trivium Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 291-1303	0	10	0		0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	$13,977			$546			$13,431	41.1	36.4	1584	122		060240112941
1463	Home Gardens Academy	Public	K-8	13550 Tolton Ave.	Corona	92879	Riverside County	Corona-Norco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 736-3219	961	44	21.6	89.9%	31 (3.2%)	10 (1.0%)	892 (92.8%)	7 (0.7%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	18 (1.9%)	$16,152			$619			$15,533	41	39.5	1483	20		060985001055
1464	Mountain Shadows Middle	Public	7-8	30401 Reservoir Ave.	Nuevo	92567	Riverside County	Nuview Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 928-3836	339	16	21.5	89.4%	37 (10.9%)	3 (0.9%)	289 (85.3%)	6 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.9%)	$19,708			$2,354			$17,354	41	44	1341	123		062778009962
1465	Luther Burbank Elementary	Public	K-8	4 Wabash Ave.	San Jose	95128	Santa Clara County	Luther Burbank	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 295-1814	426	22	19.3	69.7%	11 (2.6%)	10 (2.3%)	383 (89.9%)	17 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	$23,268			$3,737			$19,531	41	42.6	1382	83		062313003530
1466	Rivergold Elementary	Public	K-8	31800 Road 400	Coarsegold	93614	Madera County	Yosemite Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 658-7566	445	19	23.4	62.2%	284 (63.8%)	2 (0.4%)	100 (22.5%)	14 (3.1%)	10 (2.2%)	2 (0.4%)	32 (7.2%)	$14,846			$1,117			$13,729	41	17.2	2385	919		060016010252
1467	Kirkwood Elementary	Public	K-8	2049 Kirkwood Rd.	Corning	96021	Tehama County	Kirkwood Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 824-7773	105	5	21	41.0%	90 (85.7%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (14.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$14,802			$433			$14,369	41			(n/a)		061986002385
1467	Mid Valley Alternative Charter	Public, Virtual, Charter	K-8	9895 Seventh Ave.	Hanford	93230	Kings County	Kit Carson Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(559) 583-1149	60	3	19.2	68.3%	9 (15.0%)	7 (11.7%)	37 (61.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (10.0%)	$8,258			$00			$8,258	41	39.4	1488	21		061989004566
1469	Summit	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	650 Carne Rd.	Ojai	93023	Ventura County	Ojai Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 640-4300	183	6	30.4	37.2%	133 (72.7%)	9 (4.9%)	22 (12.0%)	2 (1.1%)	3 (1.6%)	2 (1.1%)	10 (5.5%)	$4,241			$175			$4,066	40.9	13.1	2545	1076		062827014449
1470	Abbott Middle	Public	6-8	600 36th Ave.	San Mateo	94403	San Mateo County	San Mateo-Foster City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 312-7600	721	40	17.8	61.0%	106 (14.7%)	6 (0.8%)	448 (62.1%)	76 (10.5%)	1 (0.1%)	13 (1.8%)	71 (9.8%)	$21,494			$2,273			$19,221	40.9	48.5	1204	266		063492005896
1471	Gold Trail	Public	4-8	889 Cold Springs Rd.	Placerville	95667	El Dorado County	Gold Trail Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 626-2595	274	13	20.7	34.7%	220 (80.3%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (16.8%)	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.8%)	$16,009			$1,094			$14,915	40.9	59.2	905	566		061545001963

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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

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.