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)
171029004574	281	Cissna Park Junior High School	Public	6-8	511 N 2nd St	Cissna Park	60924	Iroquois County	Cissna Park CUSD 6	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(815) 457-2171	63	4	16.8	25.4%	55 (87.3%)	3 (4.8%)	5 (7.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$11,828			$28			$11,800	75.1	70.6	322	41
170993000601	282	Beaubien Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5025 N Laramie Ave	Chicago	60630	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(773) 534-3500	1,013	61	16.6	42.8%	361 (35.6%)	33 (3.3%)	372 (36.7%)	175 (17.3%)	1 (0.1%)	5 (0.5%)	66 (6.5%)	$16,674			$2,014			$14,661	75	80.8	216	66
170993000655	283	Cassell Elementary School	Public	K-8	11314 S Spaulding Ave	Chicago	60655	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(773) 535-2640	354	32	11	23.4%	234 (66.1%)	25 (7.1%)	84 (23.7%)	2 (0.6%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.3%)	$22,991			$2,969			$20,022	75	75.6	268	15
171997006015	284	Chillicothe Junior High	Public	6-8	914 W Truitt Ave	Chillicothe	61523	Peoria County	Il Valley Central Unified School District 321	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(309) 274-6266	243	14	16.7	46.1%	213 (87.7%)	6 (2.5%)	13 (5.3%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.1%)	$10,334			$83			$10,251	74.9	74.8	279	5
172310002549	285	Lincoln Hall Middle School	Public	6-8	6855 N Crawford Ave	Lincolnwood	60712	Cook County	Lincolnwood School District 74	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(847) 675-8240	409	45	9		183 (44.7%)	25 (6.1%)	21 (5.1%)	142 (34.7%)	6 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (7.8%)	$25,180			$912			$24,268	74.9	69.4	336	51
170993001059	286	Rogers Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	7345 N Washtenaw Ave	Chicago	60645	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-2125	720	56	12.8	63.6%	138 (19.2%)	133 (18.5%)	251 (34.9%)	158 (21.9%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	37 (5.1%)	$18,744			$2,813			$15,932	74.8	74.1	285	1
173338003454	287	Reed-Custer Middle School	Public	6-8	407 Comet Dr	Braidwood	60408	Will County	Reed Custer CUSD 255U	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 458-2868	287	28	10.1	42.2%	240 (83.6%)	2 (0.7%)	39 (13.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.7%)	$21,045			$219			$20,826	74.8	68.2	351	64
173192003348	288	Pleasant Plains Middle School	Public	5-8	2455 N Farmingdale Rd	Pleasant Plains	62677	Sangamon County	Pleasant Plains CUSD 8	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 626-1061	385	26	14.6	11.7%	357 (92.7%)	6 (1.6%)	4 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	14 (3.6%)	$11,487			$63			$11,424	74.7	68.6	345	57
173783003886	289	Stewardson-Strasburg Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2806 E 600 North Rd	Strasburg	62465	Shelby County	Stewardson-Strasburg CUD 5A	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 682-3621	274	20	13.6	39.8%	261 (95.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.2%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.2%)	$9,670			$862			$8,808	74.5	55.5	510	221
173174005974	290	John F Kennedy Middle School	Public	6-8	12350 Essington Rd	Plainfield	60585	Will County	Plainfield School District 202	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 439-8024	935	59	15.8	35.2%	344 (36.8%)	160 (17.1%)	208 (22.2%)	149 (15.9%)	5 (0.5%)	2 (0.2%)	67 (7.2%)	$12,262			$509			$11,753	74.5	77.3	246	44

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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:

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

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.