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)
170366000058	771	AlWood Middle/High School	Public	6-12	301 E 5th Ave	Woodhull	61490	Henry County	AlWood CUSD 225	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(309) 334-2102	197	18	10.7	41.6%	182 (92.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (6.1%)	$17,118			$378			$16,740	38.3	35	845	74
170993000679	772	Darwin Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	3116 W Belden Ave	Chicago	60647	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-4110	500	38	13.3	81.2%	41 (8.2%)	34 (6.8%)	415 (83.0%)	5 (1.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.8%)	$21,391			$3,702			$17,689	38.2	33.7	864	92
171324001569	773	Central Junior High School	Public	6-8	601 Taylor St	East Peoria	61611	Tazewell County	East Peoria School District 86	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(309) 427-5200	426	42	10.2	54.5%	350 (82.2%)	23 (5.4%)	26 (6.1%)	4 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (5.2%)	$19,193			$1,011			$18,182	38.2	41.8	740	33
173618003748	774	Sherrard Junior High School	Public	7-8	4701 176th Ave	Sherrard	61281	Mercer County	Sherrard CUSD 200	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(309) 593-2135	206	15	13.5	34.5%	181 (87.9%)	1 (0.5%)	14 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	9 (4.4%)	$10,589			$252			$10,337	38.1	51.5	574	200
171563001877	775	Stanton School	Public	5-8	101 Hawthorne Ln	Fox Lake	60020	Lake County	Fox Lake GSD 114	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 973-4205	271	30	9	59.4%	170 (62.7%)	3 (1.1%)	79 (29.2%)	5 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (5.2%)	$21,132			$480			$20,652	38	54.7	519	256
170471002889	776	Jewel Middle School	Public	6-8	1501 Waterford Rd	North Aurora	60542	Kane County	Aurora West Unified School District 129	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(630) 301-5010	523	44	12	47.8%	150 (28.7%)	66 (12.6%)	278 (53.2%)	17 (3.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (2.3%)	$20,586			$2,547			$18,039	38	43.4	709	67
170557005895	777	Opdyke-Belle Rive Grade School	Public	PK, KG-8	19830 E Fourth St	Opdyke	62872	Jefferson County	Opdyke-Belle-Rive CCSD 5	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 756-2492	138	13	10.2	61.6%	131 (94.9%)	1 (0.7%)	2 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.9%)	$18,646			$708			$17,937	38	44.3	703	74
172028002285	778	Jacksonville Middle School	Public	6-8	664 Lincoln Ave	Jacksonville	62650	Morgan County	Jacksonville School District 117	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 243-4384	654	57	11.4	51.8%	491 (75.1%)	61 (9.3%)	24 (3.7%)	10 (1.5%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	65 (9.9%)	$16,921			$1,427			$15,494	37.9	40.4	765	13
171923002210	779	Hillside Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	4804 Harrison St	Hillside	60162	Cook County	Hillside School District 93	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 449-6491	455	43	10.6	66.6%	11 (2.4%)	188 (41.3%)	236 (51.9%)	6 (1.3%)	5 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.0%)	$25,028			$21,236			$3,792	37.9	39.7	776	3
170993000591	780	Bateman Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	4220 N Richmond St	Chicago	60618	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-5055	919	65	14.1	62.8%	186 (20.2%)	28 (3.0%)	627 (68.2%)	39 (4.2%)	4 (0.4%)	2 (0.2%)	33 (3.6%)	$16,624			$2,656			$13,968	37.8	41.1	752	28

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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.