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
991	Dairyland Elementary	Public	4-8	12861 Avenue 18 1/2	Chowchilla	93610	Madera County	Alview-Dairyland Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 665-2394	216	10	20.8	58.3%	72 (33.3%)	1 (0.5%)	141 (65.3%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$16,976			$3,786			$13,190	56.3	62.5	828	163		060236000126
992	Heritage Peak Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	631 L St.	Rio Linda	95673	Sacramento County	Heritage Peak Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(866) 992-9033	1,181	52	22.8	54.7%	674 (57.1%)	49 (4.1%)	301 (25.5%)	108 (9.1%)	21 (1.8%)	9 (0.8%)	19 (1.6%)	$13,101			$1,229			$11,872	56.3	65.8	772	220		060237111073
993	Fort Irwin Middle	Public	6-8	1700 Pork Chop Hill St.	Fort Irwin	92310	San Bernardino County	Silver Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 386-1133	312	17	18.8	52.2%	119 (38.1%)	34 (10.9%)	107 (34.3%)	11 (3.5%)	2 (0.6%)	15 (4.8%)	24 (7.7%)	$19,831			$706			$19,125	56.2	64.8	790	203		063682008198
994	Houghton-Kearney Elementary	Public	K-8	8905 West Kearney Blvd.	Fresno	93706	Fresno County	Central Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 276-5285	199	9	22.1	82.4%	42 (21.1%)	0 (0.0%)	138 (69.3%)	16 (8.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.5%)								56.2	50.5	1157	163		060797007669
995	Silas Bartsch	Public	K-8	2225 East North Ave.	Reedley	93654	Fresno County	Kings Canyon Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 305-7280	606	28	22	87.3%	32 (5.3%)	0 (0.0%)	556 (91.7%)	8 (1.3%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	7 (1.2%)	$23,314			$3,409			$19,905	56.2	44.8	1318	323		061970012257
996	Live Oak Middle	Public	6-8	2082 Pennington Rd.	Live Oak	95953	Sutter County	Live Oak Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 695-5435	413	24	17.5	82.6%	93 (22.5%)	5 (1.2%)	263 (63.7%)	45 (10.9%)	4 (1.0%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.5%)	$18,552			$1,064			$17,488	56.1	49	1195	199		062205002614
997	San Lorenzo Valley Middle	Public	6-8	7179 Hacienda Way	Felton	95018	Santa Cruz County	San Lorenzo Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 335-4452	396	20	20	24.0%	300 (75.8%)	0 (0.0%)	64 (16.2%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	29 (7.3%)	$16,940			$1,120			$15,820	56.1	46.6	1262	265		063474005864
998	California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	50 Moreland Rd.	Simi Valley	93065	Ventura County	California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 581-0202	5,705	207	27.6	73.7%	760 (13.3%)	970 (17.0%)	3,437 (60.2%)	239 (4.2%)	27 (0.5%)	37 (0.6%)	235 (4.1%)	$12,248			$540			$11,708	56.1	33.6	1685	687		060171612034
999	Heber	Public	5-8	1052 Heber Ave.	Heber	92249	Imperial County	Heber Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 337-6530	549	26	20.7	68.9%	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	544 (99.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	$16,218			$2,754			$13,464	56.1	52	1110	111		061683002144
1000	Cesar Chavez Academy	Public	K-8	1150 Paseo Grande	Corona	92882	Riverside County	Corona-Norco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 736-4640	1,024	43	23.9	77.4%	177 (17.3%)	21 (2.1%)	721 (70.4%)	72 (7.0%)	1 (0.1%)	5 (0.5%)	27 (2.6%)	$16,817			$565			$16,252	56	62.3	834	166		060985007209

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.