Best Middle Schools in California for African American Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in California!

Every year, the California Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, African American students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)							Ranking (African American vs All Students - 2025)					ID
Rank (of 609)	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	Statewide Rank Percentile (African American)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (African American)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)	ID
601	Adams Elementary	Public	K-8	6402 Inglewood Ave.	Stockton	95207	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7155	492	21	23.6	84.1%	32 (6.5%)	93 (18.9%)	268 (54.5%)	68 (13.8%)	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	27 (5.5%)	$12,994			$7,876			$5,118	1.3%	3.1%	1.76%			063801006398
602	Lovonya DeJean Middle	Public	7-8	3400 Macdonald Ave.	Richmond	94805	Contra Costa County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 231-1430	381	19	20.3	81.9%	12 (3.1%)	51 (13.4%)	301 (79.0%)	10 (2.6%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.5%)	4 (1.0%)								1.1%	1.7%	0.59%			063255011226
603	Yellen Learning Center	Public	K-8	37015 Goldenview Way	Palmdale	93552	Los Angeles County	Palmdale Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 456-1600	58	11	5.4	86.2%	3 (5.2%)	36 (62.1%)	19 (32.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								1.0%	0.8%	0.15%			062958011305
604	Barstow Junior High	Public	7-8	1000 Armory Rd.	Barstow	92311	San Bernardino County	Barstow Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 255-6204	646	31	20.7	80.0%	83 (12.8%)	137 (21.2%)	369 (57.1%)	5 (0.8%)	2 (0.3%)	6 (0.9%)	44 (6.8%)	$20,369			$17,534			$2,835	0.8%	1.2%	0.37%			060402000356
605	Rise	Public	K-8	44231 Fig Ave.	Lancaster	93534	Los Angeles County	Lancaster Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 940-4355	16	3	5.3	81.3%	1 (6.3%)	11 (68.8%)	2 (12.5%)	1 (6.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (6.3%)	$11,036			$8,904			$2,132	0.7%	0.2%	0.48%			062088008022
605	San Bernardino County Special Education	Public, Alternative	K-12	1950 S Sunwest Ln.	San Bernardino	92408	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 387-8511	1,860	164	11.3	74.8%	269 (14.5%)	250 (13.4%)	1,130 (60.8%)	77 (4.1%)	12 (0.6%)	5 (0.3%)	116 (6.2%)								0.7%	0.7%	0.03%			069102907174
605	Starr King K-8	Public	K-8	4848 Cottage Way	Carmichael	95608	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 971-7320	885	41	21.3	85.8%	232 (26.2%)	68 (7.7%)	116 (13.1%)	409 (46.2%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.1%)	50 (5.6%)	$22,827			$20,800			$2,027	0.7%	3.4%	2.71%			063462005822
608	Mojave Junior/Senior High	Public	6-12	15732 O St.	Mojave	93501	Kern County	Mojave Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 824-4088	400	20	20	84.5%	35 (8.8%)	93 (23.3%)	227 (56.8%)	21 (5.3%)	3 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (5.3%)	$31,089			$29,434			$1,655	0.2%	1.3%	1.14%			062523003771
609	El Dorado Elementary	Public	K-8	1540 North Lincoln St.	Stockton	95204	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7175	554	25	22.4	88.3%	31 (5.6%)	80 (14.4%)	391 (70.6%)	19 (3.4%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.4%)	28 (5.1%)	$13,592			$8,062			$5,530	0.0%	3.7%	3.69%			063801006404

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian 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

Public School Districts and Their Services: 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.