Best Elementary Schools in Illinois

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

Find the best Illinois elementary 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 2067)	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)
174305004320	1191	Lewis-Clark Elementary School	Public	K-5	501 E Lorena Ave	Wood River	62095	Madison County	Wood River-Hartford Education Service District 15	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 254-4354	231	24	9.5	73.6%	182 (78.8%)	8 (3.5%)	12 (5.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (12.6%)	$16,537			$2,260			$14,277	38.4	44.8	1061	130
171314001553	1192	V H Nelson Elementary School	Public	K-5	8901 N Ozanam Ave	Niles	60714	Cook County	East Maine School District 63	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 965-0050	447	37	12.1	59.7%	160 (35.8%)	8 (1.8%)	147 (32.9%)	87 (19.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (9.8%)	$17,240			$982			$16,257	38.4	52.9	883	309
170993006006	1193	Davis M Magnet Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	6740 S Paulina St	Chicago	60636	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-9120	130	14	9.2	84.6%	0 (0.0%)	110 (84.6%)	19 (14.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	$28,289			$2,864			$25,425	38.3	29.5	1410	217
170993000812	1194	Grimes Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5450 W 64th Pl	Chicago	60638	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-2364	395	30	13.1	76.7%	29 (7.3%)	11 (2.8%)	353 (89.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	$19,057			$2,652			$16,405	38.3	45.6	1039	155
170993004726	1195	Talman Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5450 S Talman Ave	Chicago	60632	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-7850	344	28	12.2	89.5%	5 (1.5%)	5 (1.5%)	331 (96.2%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$21,359			$3,583			$17,776	38.3	39.5	1182	13
170141206309	1196	Horizon Science Academy-Belmont	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-9	2456 N Mango Ave	Chicago	60639	Cook County	Horizon Science Academy-Belmont	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 237-2702	555	42	13.2	97.5%	0 (0.0%)	247 (44.5%)	280 (50.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (4.9%)	$22,382			$4,838			$17,544	38.3	35.7	1269	73
173174005968	1197	Thomas Jefferson Elementary School	Public	K-5	1900 Oxford Way	Joliet	60431	Will County	Plainfield School District 202	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 577-2021	579	42	13.9	41.1%	270 (46.6%)	95 (16.4%)	160 (27.6%)	34 (5.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (3.3%)	$13,018			$1,001			$12,017	38.2	51.4	915	282
170993004277	1198	Columbia Explorers Elementary Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	4520 S Kedzie Ave	Chicago	60632	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-4050	744	52	14.3	91.5%	8 (1.1%)	5 (0.7%)	726 (97.6%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	$18,053			$3,619			$14,434	38.1	46.6	1020	178
172286002532	1199	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	38.1	40.9	1158	41
170993000640	1200	Byrne Elementary School	Public	K-8	5329 S Oak Park Ave	Chicago	60638	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-2170	628	42	14.9	51.0%	164 (26.1%)	19 (3.0%)	432 (68.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	10 (1.6%)	$19,235			$2,837			$16,398	38	42.6	1118	82

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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.