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
51	Evelyn Costa Elementary	Public	K-8	1675 South Gobind Blvd.	Mountain House	95391	San Joaquin County	Lammersville Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 836-7280	612	26	23.3	6.2%	18 (2.9%)	13 (2.1%)	33 (5.4%)	520 (85.0%)	10 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (2.9%)	$11,978			$279			$11,699	98	98.3	38	13		060141014685
52	Del Mar Middle	Public	6-8	105 Avenida Miraflores	Tiburon	94920	Marin County	Reed Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 435-1468	359	31	11.6	4.7%	252 (70.2%)	3 (0.8%)	32 (8.9%)	25 (7.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (12.3%)	$27,688			$271			$27,417	98	96.8	98	46		063216004977
53	South Pasadena Middle	Public	6-8	1500 Fair Oaks	South Pasadena	91030	Los Angeles County	South Pasadena Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 441-5830	1,096	46	23.9	14.5%	237 (21.6%)	19 (1.7%)	223 (20.3%)	429 (39.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	186 (17.0%)	$15,684			$507			$15,177	97.9	98.1	46	7		063750006337
54	Warren E. Hyde Middle	Public	6-8	19325 Bollinger Rd.	Cupertino	95014	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 252-6290	800	40	19.9	26.3%	93 (11.6%)	3 (0.4%)	95 (11.9%)	550 (68.8%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	56 (7.0%)	$21,110			$829			$20,281	97.9	97.7	68	14		061029001136
55	Sierra Vista Middle	Public	7-8	2 Liberty	Irvine	92620	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6600	1,282	49	26.1	14.7%	188 (14.7%)	16 (1.2%)	103 (8.0%)	859 (67.0%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.3%)	109 (8.5%)	$13,176			$394			$12,782	97.8	97.8	64	9		068450007375
56	Carmel Valley Middle	Public	7-8	3800 Mykonos Ln.	San Diego	92130	San Diego County	San Dieguito Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 481-8221	697	30	23.5	15.4%	275 (39.5%)	6 (0.9%)	99 (14.2%)	241 (34.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	74 (10.6%)	$16,472			$790			$15,682	97.8	98.3	36	20		063438008307
57	EPIC Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	2760 Penrose Ln.	Lathrop	95330	San Joaquin County	EPIC Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 717-6700	1,025	40	25.7	24.1%	39 (3.8%)	75 (7.3%)	115 (11.2%)	725 (70.7%)	59 (5.8%)	7 (0.7%)	5 (0.5%)	$9,741			$274			$9,467	97.8	97.6	72	15		060257314621
58	Vista Verde	Public	K-8	6 Federation Way	Irvine	92603	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-6350	837	30	27.6	10.3%	351 (41.9%)	2 (0.2%)	73 (8.7%)	306 (36.6%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	103 (12.3%)	$13,926			$350			$13,576	97.7	98.7	23	35		068450007070
59	Eleanor Murray Fallon	Public	6-8	3601 Kohnen Way	Dublin	94568	Alameda County	Dublin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 875-9376	1,683	67	24.9	10.8%	120 (7.1%)	31 (1.8%)	61 (3.6%)	1,367 (81.2%)	2 (0.1%)	2 (0.1%)	100 (5.9%)	$13,589			$688			$12,901	97.7	98.3	39	20		060001913169
60	Chaparral Middle	Public	6-8	1405 South Spruce Tree Dr.	Diamond Bar	91765	Los Angeles County	Walnut Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 861-6227	1,349	48	28.2	24.6%	48 (3.6%)	16 (1.2%)	195 (14.5%)	1,045 (77.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (3.3%)	$14,389			$702			$13,687	97.6	98	49	11		064128006834

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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:

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

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.