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
2282	Clark Middle	Public	6-8	4388 Thorn St.	San Diego	92105	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 344-4200	696	31	22.4	92.2%	16 (2.3%)	62 (8.9%)	521 (74.9%)	74 (10.6%)	6 (0.9%)	2 (0.3%)	14 (2.0%)	$21,363			$4,020			$17,343	18.6	21.8	2180	102		063432007316
2283	Alpha Technology Middle	Public	6-8	8920 Elwyn Ave.	Elverta	95626	Sacramento County	Elverta Joint Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 991-4726	59	3	20	54.2%	26 (44.1%)	1 (1.7%)	25 (42.4%)	4 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (5.1%)	$14,921			$2,210			$12,711	18.6	29.5	1835	448		061260001423
2284	Larrea Middle	Public	7-8	13801 Cobalt Rd.	Victorville	92392	San Bernardino County	Victor Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 261-7040	769	40	19.4	77.6%	38 (4.9%)	144 (18.7%)	525 (68.3%)	6 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.5%)	49 (6.4%)								18.5			(n/a)		063697214684
2285	Extera Public	Public, Charter	K-8	2226 East Third St.	Los Angeles	90033	Los Angeles County	Extera Public District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 780-8300	236	12	19.5	97.9%	8 (3.4%)	2 (0.8%)	226 (95.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$24,098			$5,716			$18,382	18.5	15.6	2451	166		060180412982
2286	Howard Gardner Community Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	647 E St.	Chula Vista	91910	San Diego County	Howard Gardner Community Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 934-0300	178	9	19.7	73.0%	1 (0.6%)	4 (2.2%)	173 (97.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$21,974			$1,821			$20,153	18.5	6.2	2744	458		060152012866
2287	Van Buren Elementary	Public	K-8	1628 East Tenth St.	Stockton	95206	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7305	473	21	22.7	91.3%	9 (1.9%)	86 (18.2%)	317 (67.0%)	29 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.5%)	22 (4.7%)	$14,600			$3,422			$11,178	18.5	14.2	2509	222		063801006436
2288	Ladd Lane Elementary	Public	K-8	161 Ladd Ln.	Hollister	95023	San Benito County	Hollister	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 636-4490	767	33	22.9	53.6%	173 (22.6%)	12 (1.6%)	536 (69.9%)	16 (2.1%)	4 (0.5%)	6 (0.8%)	20 (2.6%)	$11,896			$1,544			$10,352	18.5	13.4	2534	246		061734002179
2289	Mary McLeod Bethune Middle	Public	6-8	155 West 69th St.	Los Angeles	90003	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 541-1800	843	49	17.2	97.6%	10 (1.2%)	101 (12.0%)	723 (85.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.1%)	$23,839			$4,546			$19,293	18.5	19	2297	8		062271002856
2290	Rancho Santana	Public	K-8	1454 Santana Ranch Dr.	Hollister	95023	San Benito County	Hollister	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 630-6300	678	25	26.6	53.5%	99 (14.6%)	9 (1.3%)	500 (73.7%)	25 (3.7%)	2 (0.3%)	12 (1.8%)	31 (4.6%)	$11,541			$1,589			$9,952	18.5	20.2	2254	36		061734014557
2291	Fillmore Middle	Public	6-8	543 A St.	Fillmore	93016	Ventura County	Fillmore Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 524-6055	813	38	21.4	74.8%	37 (4.6%)	2 (0.2%)	765 (94.1%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.6%)	$19,841			$1,406			$18,435	18.5	15.5	2461	170		061380001554

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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

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on 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.