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)
174119004121	481	Wauconda Middle School	Public	6-8	217 Slocum Lake Rd	Wauconda	60084	Lake County	Wauconda CUSD 118	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 526-2122	505	42	11.9	34.9%	324 (64.2%)	9 (1.8%)	145 (28.7%)	12 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (3.0%)	$18,786			$722			$18,065	58	53.3	542	61
173138003309	482	Parkside Middle School	Public	5-8	1800 Church St	Peru	61354	LaSalle County	Peru Education Service District 124	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(815) 223-1111	358	30	12	54.5%	250 (69.8%)	8 (2.2%)	70 (19.6%)	4 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (7.3%)	$13,576			$927			$12,649	57.9	61.3	430	52
173444003550	483	Rockridge Junior High School	Public	6-8	14110 134th Ave W	Taylor Ridge	61284	Rock Island County	Rockridge CUSD 300	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(309) 793-8040	247	15	16.2	24.7%	230 (93.1%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.4%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.0%)	$11,811			$673			$11,138	57.9	48.4	621	138
170031405702	484	West Prairie Junior High School	Public	7-8	18575 E 800Th St	Colchester	62326	McDonough County	West Prairie CUSD 103	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(309) 776-3220	94	8	11.5	43.6%	88 (93.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)	1 (1.1%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.2%)	$23,609			$515			$23,094	57.8	43.8	706	222
170993006455	485	Acero Charter - Rufino Tamayo Elementary	Public, Charter	K-8	5135 S California Ave	Chicago	60632	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(773) 434-6355	268	18	14.8	92.5%	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	266 (99.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$23,590			$1,931			$21,659	57.8	48.6	617	132
170004505560	486	Gallatin Junior High School	Public	5-8	5175 Highway 13	Junction	62954	Gallatin County	Gallatin CUSD 7	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 272-3821	201	17	11.6	62.2%	194 (96.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.5%)	$13,981			$2,398			$11,584	57.6	62.5	417	69
170993000971	487	Inter-American Elementary Magnet School	Public	PK, KG-8	851 W Waveland Ave	Chicago	60613	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-5490	637	45	14	47.9%	65 (10.2%)	15 (2.4%)	542 (85.1%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (1.7%)	$17,899			$2,667			$15,232	57.6	57.1	485	2
171086001325	488	Cornell Elementary School	Public	K-8	300 N 7th St	Cornell	61319	Livingston County	Cornell CCSD 426	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 358-2216	112	13	8.6	30.4%	107 (95.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.7%)	$19,342			$3,292			$16,050	57.5	38.4	801	313
170993000764	489	Farnsworth Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5414 N Linder Ave	Chicago	60630	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-3535	507	45	11.2	58.0%	182 (35.9%)	20 (3.9%)	216 (42.6%)	73 (14.4%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	14 (2.8%)	$22,253			$3,141			$19,111	57.5	73.3	294	195
173912003971	490	Unity Junior High School	Public	6-8	1121 County Road 800 N	Tolono	61880	Champaign County	Tolono CUSD 7	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 485-6735	365	23	15.5	26.0%	321 (87.9%)	13 (3.6%)	11 (3.0%)	3 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (4.7%)	$14,379			$4,148			$10,231	57.5	57.2	482	8

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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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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.