Best Middle Schools in Illinois

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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)
173210003361	461	Aplington Middle School	Public	6-8	610 E Mason St	Polo	61064	Ogle County	Polo CUSD 222	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 946-2519	115	9	12.5	45.2%	103 (89.6%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (4.3%)	$12,767			$1,002			$11,765	59.1	45.5	673	212
171752005955	462	Park West School	Public	5-8	400 W Townline Rd	Round Lake	60073	Lake County	Grayslake CCSD 46	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 201-7010	320	24	13.6	29.1%	153 (47.8%)	17 (5.3%)	95 (29.7%)	37 (11.6%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (5.3%)	$23,278			$519			$22,759	59	62.4	419	43
171410005506	463	Elm Middle School	Public	6-8	7607 W Cortland St	Elmwood Park	60707	Cook County	Elmwood Park CUSD 401	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 452-3550	660	46	14.3	51.8%	221 (33.5%)	16 (2.4%)	397 (60.2%)	14 (2.1%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.4%)	$15,916			$1,389			$14,527	59	46.2	661	198
174169006041	464	Fischer Middle School	Public	6-8	1305 Long Grove Dr	Aurora	60504	DuPage County	Indian Prairie CUSD 204	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(630) 375-3100	927	64	14.5	35.4%	338 (36.5%)	115 (12.4%)	300 (32.4%)	107 (11.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	67 (7.2%)	$16,649			$698			$15,951	59	55.7	500	36
173945004860	465	Tri-City Junior High School	Public	6-8	324 W Charles St	Buffalo	62515	Sangamon County	Tri City CUSD 1	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 364-4530	113	10	11.8	39.8%	104 (92.0%)	1 (0.9%)	3 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (4.4%)	$14,601			$609			$13,993	58.9	59.4	449	16
171135001799	466	Hannah Beardsley Middle School	Public	6-8	515 E Crystal Lake Ave	Crystal Lake	60014	McHenry County	Crystal Lake CCSD 47	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 477-5897	847	59	14.3	35.1%	543 (64.1%)	19 (2.2%)	237 (28.0%)	23 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (3.0%)	$13,693			$640			$13,052	58.9	55.7	504	38
170627000307	467	Big Hollow Middle School	Public	5-8	26051 W Nippersink Rd	Ingleside	60041	Lake County	Big Hollow School District 38	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 740-5322	803	51	15.7	32.3%	446 (55.5%)	53 (6.6%)	222 (27.6%)	41 (5.1%)	7 (0.9%)	3 (0.4%)	31 (3.9%)	$13,769			$660			$13,109	58.8	52.5	561	94
172569002778	468	Meridian Junior High School	Public	6-8	207 W Main St	Stillman Valley	61084	Ogle County	Meridian CUSD 223	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(815) 645-2230	308	25	12.5	35.1%	257 (83.4%)	2 (0.6%)	38 (12.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (3.6%)	$15,453			$439			$15,013	58.8	53.2	545	77
173297003415	469	Glenside Middle School	Public	5-8	1560 Bloomingdale Rd	Glendale Heights	60139	DuPage County	Queen Bee School District 16	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(630) 260-6112	773	57	13.6	48.4%	161 (20.8%)	53 (6.9%)	372 (48.1%)	171 (22.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (2.1%)	$19,087			$999			$18,087	58.7	62.8	412	57
173813003907	470	Sullivan Middle School	Public	6-8	713 N Main St	Sullivan	61951	Moultrie County	Sullivan CUSD 300	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 728-8381	334	22	14.9	53.9%	313 (93.7%)	2 (0.6%)	7 (2.1%)	3 (0.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.4%)	$8,341			$1,300			$7,041	58.7	44.8	694	224

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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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.