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)
170993000602	1261	Beethoven Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	25 W 47th St	Chicago	60609	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-1480	327	22	14.8	96.6%	1 (0.3%)	284 (86.9%)	40 (12.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$19,648			$3,367			$16,281	13.2	12.7	1288	27
171860002152	1262	Barack H Obama Learning Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	16448 S Park Ave	Markham	60428	Cook County	Hazel Crest School District 152-5	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 825-2400	443	25	17.7	99.1%	0 (0.0%)	350 (79.0%)	81 (18.3%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.0%)	$26,042			$7,187			$18,854	13.2	13.1	1282	20
170993006438	1263	CICS - Longwood Campus	Public, Charter, Alternative	3-12	1309 W 95th St	Chicago	60643	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(773) 238-5330	1,200	56	21.5	82.3%	2 (0.2%)	1,181 (98.4%)	8 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (0.6%)	$21,110			$240			$20,871	13.1	13.6	1263
170993001101	1264	Spencer Technology Academy Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	214 N Lavergne Ave	Chicago	60644	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-6150	389	31	12.5	98.7%	4 (1.0%)	332 (85.3%)	48 (12.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	$21,870			$4,583			$17,287	13.1	13.2	1281	17
171185001399	1265	Dennis Lab School	Public	K-8	300 E Eldorado St	Decatur	62523	Macon County	Decatur School District 61	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 362-3511	539	28	19.2	73.3%	154 (28.6%)	283 (52.5%)	35 (6.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	67 (12.4%)	$16,928			$2,693			$14,236	13	10.9	1323	58
170993000748	1266	Ellington Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	243 N Parkside Ave	Chicago	60644	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-6361	501	42	12	92.2%	1 (0.2%)	442 (88.2%)	55 (11.0%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$20,427			$3,586			$16,842	12.9	15.4	1222	44
170993005919	1267	Polaris Elementary Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	620 N Sawyer Ave	Chicago	60624	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-0820	336	16	21	80.1%	2 (0.6%)	299 (89.0%)	34 (10.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$2,308			$174			$2,134	12.9	18.2	1155	112
170993005797	1268	Erie Elementary Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	1405 N Washtenaw Ave	Chicago	60622	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 486-7161	384	30	12.7	88.5%	7 (1.8%)	59 (15.4%)	311 (81.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.8%)	$4,056			$172			$3,884	12.9	20	1112	156
171820004657	1269	Hardin County Junior High School	Public	6-8	4 School Rd	Elizabethtown	62931	Hardin County	Hardin County CUSD 1	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 287-2411	127	8	16.1	65.4%	118 (92.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.5%)	$23,020			$4,994			$18,026	12.8	19.4	1127	142
170993000619	1270	Bright Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	10740 S Calhoun Ave	Chicago	60617	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-6215	212	18	11.6	74.1%	3 (1.4%)	136 (64.2%)	73 (34.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$30,936			$4,121			$26,815	12.7	21.7	1082	188

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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