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)
170858000497	791	Carrier Mills-Stonefort Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	213 W Furlong St	Carrier Mills	62917	Saline County	Carrier Mills-Stonefort CUSD 2	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 994-2413	330	25	13.3	66.1%	259 (78.5%)	35 (10.6%)	5 (1.5%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (9.1%)	$14,131			$3,905			$10,227	37.1	27.3	960	169
174231004264	792	Challand Middle School	Public	6-8	1700 6th Ave	Sterling	61081	Whiteside County	Sterling CUSD 5	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(815) 626-3300	710	46	15.6	50.1%	393 (55.4%)	12 (1.7%)	256 (36.1%)	7 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	41 (5.8%)	$13,355			$1,218			$12,137	37	44.4	701	91
173030003140	793	Shepherd Middle School	Public	7-8	701 E McKinley Rd	Ottawa	61350	LaSalle County	Ottawa Education Service District 141	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 433-1133	389	32	12.3	52.7%	292 (75.1%)	13 (3.3%)	59 (15.2%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (6.2%)	$18,089			$1,144			$16,945	37	35	844	51
171455001805	794	Central Middle School	Public	6-8	9400 S Sawyer Ave	Evergreen Park	60805	Cook County	Evergreen Park Education Service District 124	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 424-0148	619	42	14.8	46.0%	193 (31.2%)	174 (28.1%)	223 (36.0%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (4.2%)	$16,525			$927			$15,597	36.9	48.5	618	176
170315000007	795	Indian Trail Junior High School	Public	6-8	222 N Jf Kennedy Dr	Addison	60101	DuPage County	Addison School District 4	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(630) 458-2600	1,199	92	13	61.1%	249 (20.8%)	29 (2.4%)	838 (69.9%)	47 (3.9%)	22 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (1.2%)	$15,527			$990			$14,537	36.9	32.7	880	85
171780005712	796	River Trail School	Public	K-8	333 N Oplaine Rd	Gurnee	60031	Lake County	Gurnee School District 56	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 249-6253	462	43	10.8	50.6%	83 (18.0%)	69 (14.9%)	259 (56.1%)	23 (5.0%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	25 (5.4%)	$17,562			$739			$16,824	36.9	35.1	843	47
170011006401	797	LEARN 10 Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	1811 Morrow Ave	North Chicago	60064	Lake County	North Chicago School District 187	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(847) 693-5021	282	20	14.1	67.0%	24 (8.5%)	95 (33.7%)	147 (52.1%)	2 (0.7%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (4.6%)	$16,929			$857			$16,072	36.7	40.1	771	26
170993000881	798	Jungman Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	1746 S Miller St	Chicago	60608	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-7375	284	30	9.6	81.3%	27 (9.5%)	66 (23.2%)	180 (63.4%)	6 (2.1%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	3 (1.1%)	$28,482			$5,211			$23,271	36.7	44.2	704	94
170993000712	799	Garvey M Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	10309 S Morgan St	Chicago	60643	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-2763	241	17	14.1	92.1%	0 (0.0%)	236 (97.9%)	4 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	$21,401			$4,186			$17,215	36.5	24	1026	227
171575001885	800	Franklin Junior/Senior High School	Public	6-12	110 State	Franklin	62638	Morgan County	Franklin CUSD 1	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 675-2395	157	17	9.1	26.8%	151 (96.2%)	2 (1.3%)	2 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.3%)	$25,079			$1,340			$23,739	36.5	32.9	877	77

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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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on 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.