Lloyd G. Johnson Junior High

Tucked into the small agricultural town of Arbuckle in California's Sacramento Valley, Lloyd G. Johnson Junior High offers a solid middle school experience that punches above its weight for a rural community its size. Families drawn to tight-knit small-town life — where teachers tend to know students by name and the pace is a little quieter than the suburbs — will find a school that holds its own academically, particularly in math and science. It's the kind of place where kids grow up with a real sense of community, surrounded by farmland and the slower rhythms of Central Valley life.