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)
173732003865	271	St George Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5200 E Center St	Bourbonnais	60914	Kankakee County	St George CCSD 258	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 933-1503	386	28	13.7	27.2%	283 (73.3%)	41 (10.6%)	30 (7.8%)	9 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (6.0%)	$13,227			$703			$12,524	76.2	78.7	232	39
172475002683	272	Maroa-Forsyth Middle School	Public	6-8	101 S Cedar St	Maroa	61756	Macon County	Maroa Forsyth CUSD 2	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 794-5115	250	15	16.1	31.2%	190 (76.0%)	13 (5.2%)	10 (4.0%)	27 (10.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.0%)	$9,781			$236			$9,544	76.2	71.6	308	36
173384003476	273	River Grove Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2650 Thatcher Ave	River Grove	60171	Cook County	River Grove School District 85-5	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 453-6172	730	51	14.2	51.1%	287 (39.3%)	18 (2.5%)	387 (53.0%)	21 (2.9%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	14 (1.9%)	$14,119			$1,252			$12,866	76.1	73.1	297	24
171251000818	274	Donovan Junior High School	Public	6-8	600 North St	Donovan	60931	Iroquois County	Donovan CUSD 3	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 486-7395	56	6	9.2	57.1%	45 (80.4%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (12.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (7.1%)	$16,682			$658			$16,024	75.8	82.8	190	84
172799002959	275	New Berlin Junior High School	Public	6-8	300 W Ellis St	New Berlin	62670	Sangamon County	New Berlin CUSD 16	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(217) 488-6012	166	12	14	33.1%	154 (92.8%)	4 (2.4%)	4 (2.4%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.8%)	$15,707			$629			$15,078	75.8	76.2	257	18
170012601482	276	Midland Middle School	Public	5-8	901 Hilltop Dr	Sparland	61565	Marshall County	Midland CUSD 7	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(309) 469-3131	218	14	15.5	53.7%	193 (88.5%)	7 (3.2%)	12 (5.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.9%)	4 (1.8%)	$11,375			$183			$11,192	75.8	82.2	197	79
171254001514	277	O Neill Middle School	Public	7-8	635 59th St	Downers Grove	60516	DuPage County	Downers Grove GSD 58	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(630) 719-5815	438	30	14.7	7.1%	294 (67.1%)	21 (4.8%)	75 (17.1%)	23 (5.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (5.7%)	$17,882			$1,032			$16,850	75.7	80.1	225	52
170732000727	278	S E Gross Middle School	Public	6-8	3524 Maple Ave	Brookfield	60513	Cook County	Brookfield Lagrange Park School District 95	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 485-0600	493	37	13.5	17.2%	286 (58.0%)	8 (1.6%)	169 (34.3%)	6 (1.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (4.7%)	$12,422			$26			$12,395	75.6	74.5	282	4
173414003502	279	Roanoke-Benson Junior High School	Public	5-8	131 W Reiter St	Benson	61516	Woodford County	Roanoke Benson CUSD 60	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(309) 394-2233	138	11	12.4	29.0%	126 (91.3%)	1 (0.7%)	5 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.3%)	$13,378			$596			$12,781	75.5	85	169	110
170985000580	280	Chester-East Lincoln Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	1300 1500th St	Lincoln	62656	Logan County	Chester-East Lincoln CCSD 61	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 732-4136	299	22	13.5	47.5%	270 (90.3%)	4 (1.3%)	9 (3.0%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (4.7%)	$10,820			$838			$9,982	75.4	69.2	337	57

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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:

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

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.