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)
170993000862	1011	Howe Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	720 N Lorel Ave	Chicago	60644	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-6060	382	26	14.9	97.1%	3 (0.8%)	337 (88.2%)	39 (10.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.8%)	$21,112			$4,222			$16,890	24.4	14.6	1243	232
170861000500	1012	Carrollton Grade School	Public	PK, KG-8	721 4th St	Carrollton	62016	Greene County	Carrollton CUSD 1	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 942-6831	309	21	14.7	59.5%	286 (92.6%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (4.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (2.3%)	$12,558			$984			$11,574	24.4	30.8	904	108
170142406396	1013	Barbara A Sizemore Campus	Public, Charter	K-8	6547 S Stewart Ave	Chicago	60621	Cook County	Betty Shabazz Internl Charter School	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(773) 651-1661	262	15	17.4	90.1%	1 (0.4%)	255 (97.3%)	2 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.5%)	$23,276			$3,816			$19,460	24.4	18.8	1143	130
171608001917	1014	Galesburg Junior High School	Public	7-8	1135 W Fremont St	Galesburg	61401	Knox County	Galesburg CUSD 205	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(309) 973-2002	0	36	0		0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	$12,274			$1,021			$11,252	24.4			(n/a)
170993001210	1015	Clark G R Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	1045 S Monitor Ave	Chicago	60644	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-6225	155	19	8.3	81.3%	7 (4.5%)	85 (54.8%)	55 (35.5%)	5 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.3%)	1 (0.6%)	$27,311			$4,098			$23,212	24.3	34.2	859	156
173451003607	1016	Barbour Two-Way Lang Immersion	Public	K-8	1506 Clover Ave	Rockford	61102	Winnebago County	Rockford School District 205	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 490-4100	636	36	17.7	67.1%	46 (7.2%)	21 (3.3%)	562 (88.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.1%)	$14,991			$2,571			$12,420	24.2	25.6	1000	16
173534003690	1017	Sandridge Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2950 Glenwood Dyer Rd	Lynwood	60411	Cook County	Sandridge School District 172	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(219) 257-2102	407	27	15	17.4%	37 (9.1%)	279 (68.6%)	55 (13.5%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (8.4%)	$17,458			$2,956			$14,502	24.2	17.8	1163	146
171371001673	1018	Ellis Middle School	Public	7-8	225 S Liberty St	Elgin	60120	Kane County	School District U-46	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 888-5151	543	44	12.4	65.2%	35 (6.4%)	38 (7.0%)	445 (82.0%)	9 (1.7%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (2.4%)	$18,713			$2,214			$16,500	24.2	27.6	953	65
170993005102	1019	Namaste Elementary Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	3737 S Paulina St	Chicago	60609	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 715-9558	415	0		69.6%	24 (5.8%)	12 (2.9%)	370 (89.2%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.7%)	$24,058			$174			$23,884	24.2	14.9	1234	215
170993000691	1020	Deneen Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	7240 S Wabash Ave	Chicago	60619	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-3035	460	29	15.8	89.6%	0 (0.0%)	453 (98.5%)	7 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$19,316			$3,226			$16,091	24.1	15.8	1209	189

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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:

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

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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.