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
2712	San Joaquin County Community	Public, Alternative	K-12	2707 Transworld Dr.	Stockton	95206	San Joaquin County	San Joaquin County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 468-4847	1,021	60	16.9	85.2%	96 (9.4%)	149 (14.6%)	630 (61.7%)	63 (6.2%)	7 (0.7%)	5 (0.5%)	71 (7.0%)	$25,782			$4,302			$21,480	6.3	4.9	2778	66		069103110650
2713	Lovonya DeJean Middle	Public	7-8	3400 Macdonald Ave.	Richmond	94805	Contra Costa County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 231-1430	381	19	20.3	81.9%	12 (3.1%)	51 (13.4%)	301 (79.0%)	10 (2.6%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.5%)	4 (1.0%)	$7,092			$2,308			$4,784	6.2	7.4	2728	15		063255011226
2714	Fusion Charter	Public, Charter	7-12	441 West Linwood Ave.	Turlock	95380	Stanislaus County	Fusion Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 667-9047	142	4	35.7	84.5%	29 (20.4%)	4 (2.8%)	101 (71.1%)	3 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.5%)	$6,642			$1,515			$5,127	6.1	5.7	2757	43		060185613826
2715	North Area Community	Public	7-12	4000 Pinell St.	Sacramento	95838	Sacramento County	Sacramento County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 228-2073	280	14	20	63.6%	63 (22.5%)	64 (22.9%)	116 (41.4%)	7 (2.5%)	3 (1.1%)	5 (1.8%)	22 (7.9%)	$37,216			$6,097			$31,119	6.1			(n/a)		069102711053
2716	Aurum Preparatory Academy	Public, Charter	6-8	1034 66th Ave.	Oakland	94621	Alameda County	Aurum Preparatory Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 746-7862	93	4	23.3	86.0%	3 (3.2%)	44 (47.3%)	43 (46.2%)	2 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)	$27,137			$617			$26,520	6.1	14.4	2494	222		060245914335
2717	Pio Pico Elementary	Public	K-7	931 West Highland	Santa Ana	92703	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 972-7500	501	22	22.6	94.0%	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	498 (99.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$25,440			$1,011			$24,429	6	7.5	2725	8		063531010265
2718	Peres Elementary	Public	K-8	719 Fifth St.	Richmond	94801	Contra Costa County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 231-1407	538	26	21	95.0%	2 (0.4%)	68 (12.6%)	446 (82.9%)	5 (0.9%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	14 (2.6%)	$6,904			$1,782			$5,122	5.9	9	2697	21		063255005050
2719	E. A. Hall Middle	Public	6-8	201 Brewington Ave.	Watsonville	95076	Santa Cruz County	Pajaro Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 728-6270	491	23	21.8	97.4%	7 (1.4%)	1 (0.2%)	478 (97.4%)	4 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								5.9	7.8	2719			062949004540
2720	Mojave River Academy - Route 66	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	14554 Seventh St.	Victorville	92395	San Bernardino County	Mojave River Academy - Route 66 District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 245-3222	450	21	21.6	90.9%	92 (20.4%)	27 (6.0%)	299 (66.4%)	2 (0.4%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (5.3%)	$11,568			$1,408			$10,160	5.8	8.2	2711	9		060148714233
2721	Mojave River Academy - Gold Canyon	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	8922 Beech Ave.	Fontana	92335	San Bernardino County	Mojave River Academy - Gold Canyon District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 245-3222	221	10	21.4	89.1%	30 (13.6%)	4 (1.8%)	176 (79.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.2%)	$11,831			$1,097			$10,734	5.7	11.7	2600	121		060160114270

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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.

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