I know this is late, but I would like to add my 2 cents for future readers of this question. First of all, you can do all the research you like on which schools in SF will be the best for your child, but if you do not register a year in advance, your chances of getting a top school are slim to none. We moved from Salt Lake City, UT to San Francisco in December of 2008. I did plenty of research on the schools, and picked my top 3. During registration, which, BTW, took over 3 weeks to actually get them enrolled, I found that there were no openings at any of my top schools. My son ended up enrolled at Everett Jr High School, which turned out to be worse than any school I have ever seen/heard of, including the schools in movies like Lean on Me and Dangerous Minds. My son was beat up, called "gay man" and "snowman" (because he is white) had his backpack stolen twice, his ipod stolen (which, admittedly, he was NOT supposed to bring to school!) and complaints to the administration were met with ambivalence. After 2 kids were suspended for getting caught on video harrassing my child (finally!) things calmed down for a while. However, on the last day of school, my son was jumped by 5 boys and there was nothing that could be done about it. I frequently witnessed the "security guards" swearing at the children, calling the kids "faggots" and wrestling with the students outside. I wanted to post this as a warning to all people considering a move to SF. Not only can you NOT register your kids in advance of your move (you have to be a resident first) the process WILL be long and red-tape heavy, and no amount of research will help you, in addition, for both my elementary school child and JR high child, the education was at least a year behind where they were in Utah. I have no idea why the schools are not set up by boundaries, but for whatever reason, you get what you pay for. Go private, if you can't afford private school, move to the suburbs.

From personal experience, the crime rate in that city is higher than the surrounding areas in Marin County.

Just curious, sfmom3, why do you recommend staying away from Marin City?

Anywhere in Marin County (Sausalito, Mill Valley, Ross etc) is good for middle schools basically. You might want to stay away from Marin City. If you do commute to SF from Marin County, note the Golden Gate Bridge toll is $5.00/day one way (may go up). Excellent cities with excellent public schools are: Piedmont, Palo Alto, Pleasanton, Danville, Dubln, and more affordable Alameda, the city. There are good "private independant" middle schools in SF but they are pricey.

Thank you for the info. I think we want to go with a not so big school, as here in Vienna (Austria) my daughter goes to a fairly small school.
Any idea what the best schools are in the areas near SF - bay area or up north like millevalley, sausalito,etc..
As we can really move anywhere as long as we can commute to SF we are open to any suggestions.

In San Francisco, the City itself, the top middle schools are: Presidio, A.P. Giannini, Hoover and Roosevelt. Aptos isn't bad either. But Presidio and A.P. are high. Hoover has about 350 incoming 6th graders, if you want a big school.

Hello. Have you tried using the "Research and Compare" feature on the green menu bar near the top of this page? You can enter the city and grade level you're interested in, and see how PUBLIC schools in that area rate, as far as their performance on statewide testing. 1 is low, 10 is the best. You can also click on the names of the individual schools in blue, and see more details about them, and read any parent comments that may have been made, etc.
Private schools don't participate in the same statewide tests, but you can also read more details about them.