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
1992	Anderson Middle	Public	6-8	1646 West Ferry St.	Anderson	96007	Shasta County	Cascade Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 378-7060	341	20	17	73.6%	181 (53.1%)	8 (2.3%)	68 (19.9%)	20 (5.9%)	19 (5.6%)	4 (1.2%)	41 (12.0%)	$21,320			$3,710			$17,610	25.1	27.6	1920	72		060768000733
1993	Jacobsen Middle	Public	6-8	711 Anita Dr.	Tehachapi	93561	Kern County	Tehachapi Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 822-2150	925	42	22.1	46.5%	483 (52.2%)	14 (1.5%)	378 (40.9%)	13 (1.4%)	3 (0.3%)	5 (0.5%)	29 (3.1%)	$14,653			$2,271			$12,382	25.1	30.8	1777	216		063888006528
1994	High Desert	Public	5-8	3620 Antelope Woods Rd.	Acton	93510	Los Angeles County	Acton-Agua Dulce Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 269-0310	307	14	21.6	71.3%	112 (36.5%)	6 (2.0%)	179 (58.3%)	4 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.0%)								25.1	26.8	1963	31		060000109444
1995	Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1885 E Lynwood Dr	San Bernardino	92404	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino City Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(909) 888-0763	346	24	14.6	93.9%	22 (6.4%)	45 (13.0%)	262 (75.7%)	10 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	6 (1.7%)	$28,170			$6,468			$21,702	25.1	22.7	2138	143		063417014659
1996	Montgomery Creek Elementary	Public	K-8	30365 Highway 299 East	Montgomery Creek	96065	Shasta County	Mountain Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 337-6214	68	6	11.2	75.0%	34 (50.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (16.2%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (20.6%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (13.2%)	$24,775			$6,090			$18,685	25.1			(n/a)		062704004078
1997	Central Elementary	Public	K-8	15783 18th Ave.	Lemoore	93245	Kings County	Central Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 924-7797	212	12	18.1	58.0%	12 (5.7%)	2 (0.9%)	130 (61.3%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (24.5%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (7.5%)	$41,006			$2,818			$38,188	25.1	14.3	2497	500		060798000766
1998	Thomas A. Edison Middle	Public	6-8	6500 Hooper Ave.	Los Angeles	90001	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 826-2500	837	48	17.4	98.7%	5 (0.6%)	39 (4.7%)	787 (94.0%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.5%)	$25,229			$4,948			$20,281	25.1	24	2084	86		062271002975
1999	Robert Louis Stevenson College and Career Preparatory	Public	6-8	725 South Indiana St.	Los Angeles	90023	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 780-6400	792	43	18.6	96.2%	8 (1.0%)	9 (1.1%)	774 (97.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	$27,636			$5,136			$22,500	25.1	28.2	1894	105		062271003372
2000	Lakeside Elementary	Public	K-8	9100 Jersey Ave.	Hanford	93230	Kings County	Lakeside Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 582-2868	238	12	19.8	96.6%	7 (2.9%)	13 (5.5%)	209 (87.8%)	6 (2.5%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.8%)	$20,583			$2,835			$17,748	25	34.1	1667	333		062076002491
2001	Lemonwood Elementary	Public	K-8	2001 San Mateo Pl.	Oxnard	93033	Ventura County	Oxnard	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 385-1551	808	39	20.5	91.1%	16 (2.0%)	1 (0.1%)	780 (96.5%)	10 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	$21,922			$2,200			$19,722	25	31.2	1763	238		062922004509

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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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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