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)
170993001099	621	Cardenas Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2345 S Millard Ave	Chicago	60623	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-1465	766	59	12.9	94.9%	8 (1.0%)	24 (3.1%)	732 (95.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	$19,667			$2,987			$16,680	47.6	48.6	616	5
170399000086	622	Argenta-Oreana Middle School	Public	6-8	200 E East St	Argenta	62501	Macon County	Argenta-Oreana CUSD 1	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 795-2163	178	14	12.6	60.1%	146 (82.0%)	6 (3.4%)	11 (6.2%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (7.3%)	$12,767			$1,046			$11,721	47.6	48.7	614	8
170855000479	623	Hampshire Middle School	Public	6-8	560 S State St	Hampshire	60140	Kane County	Cusd 300	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 683-2522	809	51	16	29.5%	482 (59.6%)	31 (3.8%)	233 (28.8%)	38 (4.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (3.1%)	$15,582			$657			$14,925	47.5	54.2	527	96
173597000455	624	Indian Creek Middle School	Public	5-8	335 E Garfield St	Waterman	60556	DeKalb County	Indian Creek CUSD 425	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 264-3351	224	17	13.1	34.8%	177 (79.0%)	4 (1.8%)	34 (15.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.0%)	$13,964			$561			$13,403	47.5	47.5	638	14
170022304224	625	Okaw Valley Middle School	Public	5-8	501 W Division St	Findlay	62534	Shelby County	Okaw Valley CUSD 302	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(217) 756-8521	129	11	11.3	52.7%	124 (96.1%)	2 (1.6%)	2 (1.6%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$14,592			$506			$14,086	47.4	49.3	604	21
172502002581	626	Illinois School	Public	K-8	210 Illinois St	Park Forest	60466	Cook County	Matteson Education Service District 162	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 747-0301	399	36	11.1	84.0%	0 (0.0%)	360 (90.2%)	33 (8.3%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	$21,102			$1,237			$19,865	47.4	44.9	692	66
171079004391	627	Hamilton County Junior/Senior High School	Public	7-12	1 Fox Ln	Mc Leansboro	62859	Hamilton County	Hamilton County CUSD 10	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(618) 643-2328	472	32	14.6	52.8%	457 (96.8%)	1 (0.2%)	8 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.8%)	$11,981			$1,200			$10,781	47.4	60.2	441	186
171839002123	628	Hartsburg-Emden Junior-Senior High School	Public	6-12	400 W Front St	Hartsburg	62643	Logan County	Hartsburg Emden CUSD 21	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 642-5244	88	13	6.7	36.4%	84 (95.5%)	1 (1.1%)	3 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$19,906			$795			$19,111	47.4	42	734	106
170348000031	629	Prairie Junior High School	Public	7-8	11910 S Kostner Ave	Alsip	60803	Cook County	Alsip-Hazlgrn-Oaklwn School District 126	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 371-3080	336	24	14	53.6%	101 (30.1%)	60 (17.9%)	161 (47.9%)	9 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.5%)	$20,908			$1,735			$19,173	47.3	53.2	543	86
174221001184	630	Jack London Middle School	Public	6-8	1001 W Dundee Rd	Wheeling	60090	Cook County	Wheeling CCSD 21	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 520-2745	605	58	10.5	58.3%	186 (30.7%)	17 (2.8%)	326 (53.9%)	49 (8.1%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (4.1%)	$21,414			$1,026			$20,389	47.3	42.5	719	89

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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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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.