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
2422	Eastin Arcola Elementary	Public	K-8	29551 Avenue 8	Madera	93637	Madera County	Madera Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 674-8841	225	13	16.7	95.6%	9 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	204 (90.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (5.3%)	$24,915			$3,410			$21,505	15.3	25	2034	388		062334013804
2423	New Designs Charter	Public, Charter	6-12	2303 South Figueroa Way	Los Angeles	90007	Los Angeles County	New Designs Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 765-9084	784	19	41.8	80.4%	15 (1.9%)	66 (8.4%)	624 (79.6%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	78 (9.9%)	$21,050			$1,908			$19,142	15.3	22.8	2134	289		060154810840
2424	Valley Oaks Center for Enriched Studies	Public	6-12	9171 Telfair Ave.	Sun Valley	91352	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 394-4600	372	24	15.5	92.5%	12 (3.2%)	5 (1.3%)	343 (92.2%)	9 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.8%)	$34,652			$6,870			$27,782	15.3	16.9	2400	24		062271014456
2425	Aspire Stockton 6-12 Secondary Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	2428 Belleview Ave.	Stockton	95206	San Joaquin County	Aspire Stockton 6-12 Secondary Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 208-9900	326	13	25.1	89.3%	8 (2.5%)	68 (20.9%)	204 (62.6%)	17 (5.2%)	2 (0.6%)	2 (0.6%)	24 (7.4%)	$26,647			$1,685			$24,962	15.3	18.7	2312	113		060253214481
2426	Umoja International Academy	Public	7-12	5301 N St.	Sacramento	95819	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-5350	412	24	17.2	68.0%	80 (19.4%)	60 (14.6%)	191 (46.4%)	33 (8.0%)	6 (1.5%)	6 (1.5%)	36 (8.7%)	$25,860			$4,020			$21,840	15.3	12.8	2560	134		063384005262
2427	Wilhelmina Henry Elementary	Public	K-8	1107 South Wagner Ave.	Stockton	95215	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7490	881	35	25.2	81.6%	22 (2.5%)	16 (1.8%)	802 (91.0%)	23 (2.6%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (1.7%)	$12,986			$3,485			$9,501	15.2	10.9	2638	211		063801011781
2428	Aspire East Palo Alto Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	1286 Runnymede St.	East Palo Alto	94303	San Mateo County	Aspire East Palo Alto Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 614-9100	496	20	24.5	90.7%	3 (0.6%)	29 (5.8%)	428 (86.3%)	3 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	14 (2.8%)	18 (3.6%)	$20,815			$2,465			$18,350	15.2	16.8	2408	20		060160414051
2429	Cactus Medical Health and Technology Magnet Academy	Public	6-8	3243 East Ave. R-8	Palmdale	93550	Los Angeles County	Palmdale Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 273-0847	822	40	20.7	89.3%	33 (4.0%)	119 (14.5%)	643 (78.2%)	8 (1.0%)	5 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	13 (1.6%)	$18,903			$2,472			$16,431	15.2	15	2477	48		062958008933
2430	Tranquillity Elementary	Public	K-8	6116 South Daniels	Tranquillity	93668	Fresno County	Golden Plains Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 698-5517	209	13	16.3	88.0%	4 (1.9%)	3 (1.4%)	201 (96.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$20,541			$4,171			$16,370	15.2	17.2	2387	43		069113410218
2431	Curtis Middle	Public	7-8	1050 North Delrosa Dr.	San Bernardino	92410	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 388-6332	679	34	19.6	97.1%	16 (2.4%)	56 (8.2%)	591 (87.0%)	7 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.3%)	$23,247			$4,919			$18,328	15.2	16.6	2416	15		063417005354

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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

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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