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)
170009904504	51	Thomas Metcalf School	Public	PK, KG-8	ISU Campus Box 7000	Normal	61790	McLean County	ISU Laboratory Schools	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(309) 438-7621	449	49	9.1	8.2%	320 (71.3%)	14 (3.1%)	45 (10.0%)	38 (8.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (7.1%)								95.1	95.7	46	5
170993000581	52	Audubon Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	3500 N Hoyne Ave	Chicago	60618	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(773) 534-5470	610	46	13.4	12.0%	410 (67.2%)	6 (1.0%)	105 (17.2%)	33 (5.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (9.0%)	$18,400			$2,707			$15,693	95	80.9	213	161
173060003181	53	Palos South Middle School	Public	6-8	13100 S 82nd Ave	Palos Park	60464	Cook County	Palos CCSD 118	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(708) 448-5971	705	51	13.8	32.6%	525 (74.5%)	18 (2.6%)	112 (15.9%)	24 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (3.5%)	$17,278			$392			$16,886	95	95.6	48	5
170993001040	54	Prescott Elementary School	Public	K-8	1632 W Wrightwood Ave	Chicago	60614	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(773) 534-5505	412	34	12.2	31.3%	163 (39.6%)	55 (13.3%)	120 (29.1%)	48 (11.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (6.1%)	$19,914			$2,535			$17,379	95	93.5	69	15
174169002093	55	Clifford Crone Middle School	Public	6-8	4020 111th St	Naperville	60564	Will County	Indian Prairie CUSD 204	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(630) 428-5600	885	57	15.4	12.3%	276 (31.2%)	53 (6.0%)	47 (5.3%)	465 (52.5%)	3 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	40 (4.5%)	$14,626			$676			$13,949	94.9	92.1	89	34
173876001890	56	Teutopolis Junior High School	Public	7-8	904 W Water St	Teutopolis	62467	Effingham County	Teutopolis CUSD 50	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(217) 857-6678	174	11	16.2	5.7%	171 (98.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.1%)	$10,171			$901			$9,270	94.9	97.1	32	24
172811002964	57	New Hope Elementary School	Public	K-8	1804 County Road 445 N	Fairfield	62837	Wayne County	New Hope CCSD 6	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 842-3296	193	13	14.4	35.8%	188 (97.4%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	$11,246			$881			$10,365	94.8	76.9	249	192
171270001523	58	Dunlap Middle School	Public	6-8	5200 W Cedar Hills Dr	Dunlap	61525	Peoria County	Dunlap CUSD 323	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(309) 243-7778	526	33	15.9	10.5%	281 (53.4%)	39 (7.4%)	29 (5.5%)	143 (27.2%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (5.9%)	$11,794			$503			$11,291	94.8	97.5	26	32
173462003626	59	Rondout Elementary School	Public	K-8	28593 N Bradley Rd	Lake Forest	60045	Lake County	Rondout School District 72	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(847) 362-2021	149	18	8		105 (70.5%)	3 (2.0%)	17 (11.4%)	8 (5.4%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (9.4%)	$41,858			$75			$41,783	94.7	97	36	23
172190000517	60	Lake Zurich Middle - S Campus	Public	6-8	435 W Cuba Rd	Lake Zurich	60047	Lake County	Lake Zurich CUSD 95	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(847) 540-7070	604	54	11.1	15.9%	484 (80.1%)	5 (0.8%)	41 (6.8%)	53 (8.8%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	16 (2.6%)	$17,832			$536			$17,296	94.7	95.5	50	10

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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:

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.