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)
171983005641	201	Marlowe Middle School	Public	6-8	9625 Haligus Rd	Lake in the Hills	60156	McHenry County	Huntley Community School District 158	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 659-4700	1,237	94	13.2	19.6%	839 (67.8%)	45 (3.6%)	203 (16.4%)	90 (7.3%)	9 (0.7%)	4 (0.3%)	47 (3.8%)	$14,327			$256			$14,071	83.1	85.3	165	36
173075005323	202	Mayo Middle School	Public	6-8	300 E Wood St	Paris	61944	Edgar County	Paris-Union School District 95	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 466-3050	241	25	9.6	58.1%	217 (90.0%)	6 (2.5%)	13 (5.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.7%)	$14,597			$949			$13,647	82.8	78.3	237	35
174062004085	203	Waltham Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2902 N Il Route 178	Utica	61373	LaSalle County	Waltham CCSD 185	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 667-4417	254	22	11.8		223 (87.8%)	2 (0.8%)	20 (7.9%)	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	4 (1.6%)	$15,793			$691			$15,102	82.8	91.8	91	112
173474000707	204	Helen Keller Junior High School	Public	6-8	820 Bode Rd	Schaumburg	60194	Cook County	Schaumburg CCSD 54	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 357-6500	598	55	10.9		200 (33.4%)	29 (4.8%)	196 (32.8%)	159 (26.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	13 (2.2%)	$18,495			$660			$17,835	82.7	84.2	177	27
173735003868	205	Triad Middle School	Public	6-8	9539 US Highway 40	Saint Jacob	62281	Madison County	Triad CUSD 2	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(618) 644-5511	948	55	17.1	18.8%	845 (89.1%)	18 (1.9%)	36 (3.8%)	8 (0.8%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	38 (4.0%)	$10,559			$541			$10,018	82.7	85.1	168	37
170993000743	206	Edgebrook Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	6525 N Hiawatha Ave	Chicago	60646	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(773) 534-1194	508	37	13.7	15.0%	288 (56.7%)	5 (1.0%)	110 (21.7%)	53 (10.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (10.2%)	$18,750			$2,731			$16,019	82.6	65.8	383	177
171857002149	207	Hawthorn Middle School North	Public	6-8	201 W Hawthorn Pkwy	Vernon Hills	60061	Lake County	Hawthorn CCSD 73	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 990-4400	593	52	11.4	35.2%	266 (44.9%)	22 (3.7%)	153 (25.8%)	127 (21.4%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (3.7%)	$17,106			$528			$16,578	82.6	81	211	4
172925004581	208	Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School	Public	6-8	325 S Kenilworth Ave	Oak Park	60302	Cook County	Oak Park Education Service District 97	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 524-3050	981	72	13.6	23.6%	468 (47.7%)	184 (18.8%)	168 (17.1%)	26 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	117 (11.9%)	$17,592			$772			$16,821	82.3	72.7	302	94
170414000106	209	Thomas Middle School	Public	6-8	1430 N Belmont Ave	Arlington Heights	60004	Cook County	Arlington Heights School District 25	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 398-4260	992	70	14.1	15.0%	705 (71.1%)	16 (1.6%)	97 (9.8%)	152 (15.3%)	1 (0.1%)	6 (0.6%)	15 (1.5%)	$15,776			$535			$15,241	82.3	84.4	175	34
171446001795	210	Nichols Middle School	Public	6-8	800 Greenleaf St	Evanston	60202	Cook County	Evanston CCSD 65	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 859-8661	637	68	9.3	35.9%	292 (45.8%)	106 (16.6%)	145 (22.8%)	20 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	68 (10.7%)	$26,331			$74			$26,257	82.1	80.9	214	4

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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.