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
71	Marshall Middle	Public	6-8	9700 Avenue of Nations	San Diego	92131	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 549-5400	1,390	54	25.9	21.7%	488 (35.1%)	24 (1.7%)	175 (12.6%)	519 (37.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.1%)	182 (13.1%)	$16,759			$2,181			$14,578	97.2	97.8	63	8		063432007688
72	Parkside Montessori	Public	K-8	1685 Eisenhower St.	San Mateo	94403	San Mateo County	San Mateo-Foster City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 312-7575	418	20	21.2	17.7%	145 (34.7%)	7 (1.7%)	86 (20.6%)	122 (29.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	56 (13.4%)	$20,950			$2,919			$18,031	97.2	91.8	235	163		063492005916
73	John M. Horner Middle	Public	6-8	4350 Irvington Ave.	Fremont	94538	Alameda County	Fremont Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 656-4000	1,574	64	24.6	23.2%	58 (3.7%)	13 (0.8%)	148 (9.4%)	1,299 (82.5%)	4 (0.3%)	5 (0.3%)	47 (3.0%)	$14,583			$678			$13,905	97.2	97.8	65	8		061440001670
74	Cupertino Middle	Public	6-8	1650 South Bernardo Ave.	Sunnyvale	94087	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 245-0303	1,067	59	18	20.9%	261 (24.5%)	8 (0.7%)	127 (11.9%)	582 (54.5%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	86 (8.1%)	$19,029			$334			$18,695	97.2	98.1	45	29		061029001127
75	Fulton (Harry C.) Middle	Public	6-8	8778 El Lago St.	Fountain Valley	92708	Orange County	Fountain Valley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 375-2816	753	34	22.1	23.1%	189 (25.1%)	1 (0.1%)	103 (13.7%)	398 (52.9%)	1 (0.1%)	5 (0.7%)	55 (7.3%)	$14,852			$793			$14,059	97.1	96.7	101	26		061422001625
76	Diablo Vista Middle	Public	6-8	4100 Camino Tassajara	Danville	94506	Contra Costa County	San Ramon Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 855-7600	835	36	23.3	8.3%	226 (27.1%)	13 (1.6%)	56 (6.7%)	449 (53.8%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	87 (10.4%)	$15,446			$423			$15,023	97.1	96.2	115	39		063513008460
77	Willma Cavitt Junior High	Public	7-8	7200 Fuller Dr.	Granite Bay	95746	Placer County	Eureka Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 791-4152	375	15	24.4	8.5%	224 (59.7%)	4 (1.1%)	35 (9.3%)	70 (18.7%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (10.7%)	$12,706			$393			$12,313	97.1	98	53	24		061308007707
78	University Preparatory	Public	7-12	13853 Seneca Rd.	Victorville	92392	San Bernardino County	Victor Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 243-5940	1,136	44	26.1	74.6%	117 (10.3%)	60 (5.3%)	807 (71.0%)	103 (9.1%)	4 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	42 (3.7%)								97.1	86.9	347	269		063697211114
79	South Pointe Middle	Public	6-8	20671 Larkstone Dr.	Walnut	91789	Los Angeles County	Walnut Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 595-8171	979	38	25.5	25.0%	19 (1.9%)	4 (0.4%)	156 (15.9%)	762 (77.8%)	1 (0.1%)	3 (0.3%)	34 (3.5%)	$14,881			$1,035			$13,846	97.1	96.9	95	16		064128009654
80	Mesa Verde Middle	Public	6-8	8375 Entreken Way	San Diego	92129	San Diego County	Poway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 538-5478	1,178	47	25.1	11.2%	350 (29.7%)	12 (1.0%)	124 (10.5%)	536 (45.5%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	151 (12.8%)	$14,857			$673			$14,184	97.1	98	51	29		063153002667

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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

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