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!

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.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the IAR test scores by the Illinois State Board of Education. The most recent update was on Wednesday, October 30, 2024.

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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)
170993006293	991	Intrinsic Charter High School	Public, Charter	7-12	4540 W Belmont Ave	Chicago	60641	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 887-2735	992	67	14.7	86.5%	33 (3.3%)	34 (3.4%)	919 (92.6%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	$21,645			$1,979			$19,666	25.5	19.5	1124	133
170993000753	992	Esmond Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	1865 W Montvale Ave	Chicago	60643	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-2650	247	19	13	94.7%	1 (0.4%)	241 (97.6%)	5 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$23,497			$4,960			$18,536	25.5	23.4	1037	45
170993000752	993	Ericson Elementary Scholastic Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	3600 W 5th Ave	Chicago	60624	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-6660	363	27	13.4	87.9%	1 (0.3%)	358 (98.6%)	3 (0.8%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$24,030			$4,090			$19,940	25.5	19.5	1123	130
170993000929	994	Lovett Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	6333 W Bloomingdale Ave	Chicago	60639	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-3130	307	23	13.3	90.2%	0 (0.0%)	244 (79.5%)	60 (19.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.7%)	$19,507			$3,449			$16,059	25.4	32.7	881	113
170999001229	995	Elden D Finley Junior High School	Public	6-8	10835 Lombard Ave	Chicago Ridge	60415	Cook County	Chicago Ridge School District 127-5	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 636-2005	400	32	12.5	67.5%	248 (62.0%)	36 (9.0%)	98 (24.5%)	6 (1.5%)	3 (0.8%)	1 (0.3%)	8 (2.0%)	$17,721			$2,089			$15,632	25.4	24.2	1023	28
170993006099	996	South Shore Fine Arts Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	1415 E 70th St	Chicago	60637	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-8340	248	25	9.9	71.8%	0 (0.0%)	236 (95.2%)	8 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.6%)	$33,912			$5,471			$28,441	25.4	18.1	1159	163
170010905367	997	Ridgeview Junior High School	Public	6-8	202 E Wood St	Colfax	61728	McLean County	Ridgeview CUSD 19	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(309) 723-2951	133	12	11.2	43.6%	123 (92.5%)	1 (0.8%)	2 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.3%)	$12,036			$982			$11,055	25.4	21.3	1090	93
170993006481	998	Acero Charter - Carlos Fuentes Elementary	Public, Charter	K-8	2845 W Barry Ave	Chicago	60618	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(773) 279-9826	401	31	12.9		2 (0.5%)	5 (1.2%)	393 (98.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	$22,045			$1,600			$20,445	25.3	30.2	909	89
171818004438	999	Calhoun Elementary/ Junior High School	Public	PK, KG-8	52 Poor Farm Hollow Rd	Hardin	62047	Calhoun County	Calhoun CUSD 40	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 576-2341	362	31	11.6	41.2%	347 (95.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.2%)	$14,197			$1,703			$12,494	25.2	30.1	911	88
172778004761	999	Nauvoo Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2461 N State Highway 96	Nauvoo	62354	Hancock County	Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD 325	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(866) 453-2600	203	20	10.4	41.4%	192 (94.6%)	3 (1.5%)	2 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.0%)	$18,370			$895			$17,475	25.2	45.3	682	317

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Illinois

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.