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)
170993005092	821	Chicago Math & Sci Elementary Charter	Public, Charter	6-12	7212 N Clark St	Chicago	60626	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 761-8960	606	50	12	91.3%	44 (7.3%)	249 (41.1%)	234 (38.6%)	66 (10.9%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.2%)	10 (1.7%)	$21,139			$1,826			$19,313	34.8	47.4	642	179
170609005026	822	Freedom Middle School	Public	6-8	3016 Ridgeland Ave	Berwyn	60402	Cook County	Berwyn South School District 100	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 795-5800	494	51	9.7	78.1%	21 (4.3%)	22 (4.5%)	436 (88.3%)	7 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.6%)	$16,075			$1,334			$14,741	34.8	26.5	977	155
170141806384	823	Salt Fork Junior High School	Public	6-8	7087 N 600 East Rd	Sidell	61876	Vermilion County	Salt Fork CUSD 512	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(217) 288-9306	186	11	17.1	53.8%	171 (91.9%)	2 (1.1%)	6 (3.2%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.7%)	$12,799			$81			$12,718	34.7	38.7	798	25
170993000652	824	Carroll Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2929 W 83rd St	Chicago	60652	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-9414	421	32	13.3	87.9%	8 (1.9%)	347 (82.4%)	62 (14.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.7%)	$22,047			$4,333			$17,715	34.7	37.9	807	17
172433002642	825	Mannheim Middle School	Public	6-8	2600 Hyde Park Ave	Melrose Park	60164	Cook County	Mannheim School District 83	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 455-5020	833	77	10.7	66.0%	69 (8.3%)	10 (1.2%)	731 (87.8%)	12 (1.4%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.1%)	$20,207			$674			$19,533	34.6	33.5	866	41
172994003102	826	R O W V A Junior and Senior High School	Public	7-12	335 N Joy St	Oneida	61467	Knox County	R O W V A Cusd 208	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(309) 483-6371	243	26	9.3	49.8%	220 (90.5%)	1 (0.4%)	15 (6.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (2.9%)	$19,283			$474			$18,809	34.6	44.3	702	124
173177003343	827	Plano Middle School	Public	7-8	804 S Hale St	Plano	60545	Kendall County	Plano CUSD 88	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(630) 552-3608	345	30	11.4	62.6%	107 (31.0%)	34 (9.9%)	187 (54.2%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (4.6%)	$17,355			$78			$17,277	34.5	36.8	822	5
170579004634	828	Belvidere Central Middle School	Public	6-8	8787 Beloit Rd	Belvidere	61008	Boone County	Belvidere CUSD 100	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(815) 544-0190	897	74	12	46.3%	524 (58.4%)	29 (3.2%)	300 (33.4%)	6 (0.7%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (4.1%)	$15,629			$13,201			$2,428	34.5	34.8	848	20
170993001070	829	Sayre Elementary Language Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	1850 N Newland Ave	Chicago	60707	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-3351	428	40	10.8	60.0%	34 (7.9%)	161 (37.6%)	216 (50.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	15 (3.5%)	$22,833			$3,479			$19,354	34.5	26.6	975	146
171371001705	830	Canton Middle School	Public	7-8	1100 Sunset Cir	Streamwood	60107	Cook County	School District U-46	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(630) 213-5525	548	30	18	46.9%	130 (23.7%)	35 (6.4%)	304 (55.5%)	59 (10.8%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (3.1%)	$21,816			$1,570			$20,245	34.4	33.5	868	38

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Illinois

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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

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.