CALIFORNIA STATE – California’s latest middle school rankings are out, and the No. 1 spot went to a campus with “High” in its name.
Whitney High in Cerritos topped the state’s list in U.S. News & World Report’s 2027 rankings, followed by Science Academy STEM Magnet in North Hollywood and Oxford Academy in Cypress. Whitney serves both middle and high school students.
U.S. News announced the rankings on October 20. The new edition evaluates more than 24,000 public middle schools nationwide, with results published at the state and district levels.
California’s highest-ranked schools span communities from Petaluma and Stockton to Los Angeles County, Orange County and San Diego.
North Star Academy in Redwood City took fourth place, followed by Joaquin Miller Middle in San Jose at No. 5. SFGATE reported that North Star rose from sixth place in the previous edition.
Here are California’s top 25 public middle schools, according to the rankings reported by Patch:
| State rank | School | City |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whitney (Gretchen) High | Cerritos |
| 2 | Science Academy STEM Magnet | North Hollywood |
| 3 | Oxford Academy | Cypress |
| 4 | North Star Academy | Redwood City |
| 5 | Joaquin Miller Middle | San Jose |
| 6 | Elkhorn | Stockton |
| 7 | Bullis Charter | Los Altos |
| 8 | John F. Kennedy Middle | Cupertino |
| 9 | William Hopkins Middle | Fremont |
| 10 | Petaluma Accelerated Charter | Petaluma |
| 11 | Robert C. Fisler Elementary | Fullerton |
| 12 | Cottonwood Creek | Dublin |
| 13 | La Entrada Middle | Menlo Park |
| 14 | Sam H. Lawson Middle | Cupertino |
| 15 | La Canada High | La Canada |
| 16 | Lilienthal (Claire) Elementary | San Francisco |
| 17 | Huntington Middle | San Marino |
| 18 | Mt. Everest Academy | San Diego |
| 19 | Ralston Intermediate | Belmont |
| 20 | Yu Ming Charter | Oakland |
| 21 | Georgina P. Blach Junior High | Los Altos |
| 22 | Accelerated Achievement Academy | Hollister |
| 23 | Hansen Elementary | Mountain House |
| 24 | Redwood Middle | Saratoga |
| 25 | Irvine International Academy | Irvine |
The mix of elementary, middle and high school names reflects campuses that serve different combinations of grades. A school can appear in more than one ranking category when it serves students at multiple levels.
U.S. News also updated its approach for the 2027 edition. The publication says it incorporated publicly available information collected directly from state education agencies by research organization RTI International, alongside U.S. Department of Education data.
The rankings evaluate mathematics and reading/language arts performance while accounting for students’ demographic backgrounds. The updated approach considers performance across proficiency levels, and student-teacher ratios are used to break ties.
For families, that provides one way to compare academic results. It still leaves questions worth exploring beyond the rankings, including the support available to struggling students, extracurricular opportunities and whether a campus is a good fit for an individual child.
And a school missing from the top 25 isn’t necessarily missing from the rankings. Parents can search for additional campuses in the full U.S. News California middle school directory.
