Best Middle Schools in Illinois

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Find the best Illinois 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!

JUST IN! Illinois IAR test scores and updated rankings for the 2023-24 school year were recently posted to SchoolDigger!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Illinois 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.

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 1363)	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 (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
170993000658	401	Chappell Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2135 W Foster Ave	Chicago	60625	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(773) 534-2390	539	39	14	38.8%	225 (41.7%)	35 (6.5%)	216 (40.1%)	25 (4.6%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (6.7%)	$20,243			$2,528			$17,715	64.5	68.3	350	51
172286002532	402	Lick Creek Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	7355 Lick Creek Rd	Buncombe	62912	Johnson County	Lick Creek CCSD 16	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 833-2545	139	12	11.5	39.6%	131 (94.2%)	3 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.6%)	$11,042			$1,288			$9,754	64.4	57.5	479	77
170032605635	403	EPG Middle School	Public	5-8	403 McLean St	Gridley	61744	McLean County	El Paso-Gridley CUSD 11	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(309) 747-2156	381	26	14.7	39.1%	335 (87.9%)	10 (2.6%)	16 (4.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (5.2%)	$8,720			$252			$8,467	64.3	77.4	245	158
171549001868	404	Forreston Junior/Senior High School	Public	6-12	601 E Main St	Forreston	61030	Ogle County	Forrestville Valley CUSD 221	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(815) 938-2175	427	28	14.9	35.4%	366 (85.7%)	1 (0.2%)	24 (5.6%)	5 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (7.3%)	$14,009			$378			$13,631	64.1	62.6	415	11
170765005479	405	Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High School	Public	6-8	700 Panther Way	Paxton	60957	Ford County	Paxton-Buckley-Loda CUD 10	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(217) 379-9202	269	25	10.6	48.3%	224 (83.3%)	3 (1.1%)	30 (11.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (4.5%)	$13,914			$1,716			$12,198	64.1	67.2	362	43
171881005511	406	Herrin Middle School	Public	6-8	700 S 14th St	Herrin	62948	Williamson County	Herrin CUSD 4	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 942-7461	507	39	12.9	62.7%	415 (81.9%)	29 (5.7%)	15 (3.0%)	4 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (8.7%)	$11,689			$1,134			$10,555	63.9	67.7	357	49
170993006507	407	CICS - Avalon/South Shore	Public, Charter	K-8	1501 E 83rd Pl	Chicago	60619	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(773) 721-0858	456	24	19	91.4%	0 (0.0%)	455 (99.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$21,914			$165			$21,749	63.8	49	609	202
170993000604	408	Belding Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	4257 N Tripp Ave	Chicago	60641	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(773) 534-3590	564	39	14.4	49.8%	273 (48.4%)	34 (6.0%)	198 (35.1%)	27 (4.8%)	5 (0.9%)	3 (0.5%)	24 (4.3%)	$17,857			$2,548			$15,309	63.8	55.5	511	103
171377001730	409	Friendship Junior High School	Public	6-8	550 Elizabeth Ln	Des Plaines	60018	Cook County	Community Cons School District 59	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 593-4350	617	57	10.8	60.8%	245 (39.7%)	34 (5.5%)	205 (33.2%)	105 (17.0%)	10 (1.6%)	3 (0.5%)	15 (2.4%)	$19,322			$631			$18,691	63.7	60.5	437	28
170492000185	410	Glenwood Middle School	Public	7-8	595 Chatham Rd	Chatham	62629	Sangamon County	Ball Chatham CUSD 5	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(217) 483-2481	753	44	17.3	25.1%	581 (77.2%)	43 (5.7%)	36 (4.8%)	38 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	54 (7.2%)	$11,137			$461			$10,676	63.5	58	471	61

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for IL student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Disabled Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on IAR English Language Arts, IAR Mathematics test scores released by the Illinois State Board of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 30, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Illinois State Board 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 Illinois State Board of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education.