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.

Alert! We are expecting the release of this year's test scores by the California Department of Education any day now! We will update our rankings as soon as they are released!

Alert! New test scores and rankings are expected from the California Department of Education any day now!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2018)							Ranking (2023 vs 2022)
ID	Rank (of 2802)	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 (2023)	Average Standard Score (2022)	Rank (2022)	Rank Change from 2022	SchoolDigger Rating (2023)
062532003777	461	Clifton Middle	Public	6-8	226 South Ivy Ave.	Monrovia	91016	Los Angeles County	Monrovia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 471-2600	589	26	22.4	42.1%	115 (19.5%)	22 (3.7%)	376 (63.8%)	35 (5.9%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	36 (6.1%)	$7,393							81.1	77.7	532	71
064023010687	462	Sunridge Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	7285 Hayden Ave.	Sebastopol	95472	Sonoma County	Twin Hills Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 824-2844	243	10	24.3	34.2%	193 (79.4%)	2 (0.8%)	23 (9.5%)	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (8.2%)	$8,350							81.1	76.2	562	100
060001609092	463	Pioneer Junior High	Public	7-8	245 West 18th St.	Upland	91784	San Bernardino County	Upland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 949-7770	716	33	21.8	49.0%	238 (33.2%)	38 (5.3%)	349 (48.7%)	60 (8.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	29 (4.1%)	$11,385							81	78.6	515	52
064347004175	464	Butte Vista Elementary	Public	K-8	2195 Blevin Rd.	Yuba City	95993	Sutter County	Yuba City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 822-5034	856	42	20.3	46.4%	266 (31.1%)	10 (1.2%)	233 (27.2%)	256 (29.9%)	6 (0.7%)	2 (0.2%)	82 (9.6%)	$6,875							81	69.2	700	236
062583003876	465	Jackson Academy of Music and Math (JAMM)	Public	K-8	2700 Fountain Oaks Dr.	Morgan Hill	95037	Santa Clara County	Morgan Hill Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 201-6400	631	25	25.7	22.7%	230 (36.5%)	9 (1.4%)	264 (41.8%)	53 (8.4%)	4 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	71 (11.3%)	$5,068							81	80.9	456	9
060184411208	466	New West Charter	Public, Charter	6-12	1905 Armacost Ave.	Los Angeles	90025	Los Angeles County	New West Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 943-5444	997	52	19.3	16.1%	534 (53.6%)	42 (4.2%)	232 (23.3%)	95 (9.5%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	90 (9.0%)								81	81.3	447	19
060248714407	467	Excel Academy Charter	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1 Technology Dr.	Irvine	92618	Orange County	Excel Academy Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(949) 387-7822	545	53	10.3	49.7%	124 (22.8%)	15 (2.8%)	258 (47.3%)	68 (12.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.6%)	76 (13.9%)								81	75.6	573	106
063570006085	468	John Adams Middle	Public	6-8	2425 16th St.	Santa Monica	90405	Los Angeles County	Santa Monica-Malibu Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 452-2326	837	44	18.8	38.5%	271 (32.4%)	87 (10.4%)	408 (48.7%)	35 (4.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	33 (3.9%)	$6,792							81	79.8	484	16
063801012085	469	Valentine Peyton Elementary	Public	K-8	2525 Gold Brook Dr.	Stockton	95212	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7420	826	32	26.2	59.6%	30 (3.6%)	66 (8.0%)	326 (39.5%)	348 (42.1%)	4 (0.5%)	11 (1.3%)	41 (5.0%)	$7,700							80.9	68.2	721	252
062805004250	470	Claremont Middle	Public	6-8	5750 College Ave.	Oakland	94618	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-2201	487	29	17	43.1%	149 (30.6%)	117 (24.0%)	82 (16.8%)	33 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	105 (21.6%)	$6,503							80.9	85.1	387	83

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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 English Language Learner 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 18, 2023, 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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

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