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)
172529002757	541	McHenry Middle School	Public	6-8	2120 W Lincoln Rd	McHenry	60051	McHenry County	McHenry CCSD 15	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(779) 244-1600	695	59	11.7	46.6%	510 (73.4%)	7 (1.0%)	149 (21.4%)	7 (1.0%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (2.9%)	$18,209			$764			$17,445	53.9	55.6	507	34
173891005071	542	Wolcott School	Public	PK, KG-8	200 N Wolcott St	Thornton	60476	Cook County	Thornton School District 154	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 877-2526	252	20	12.6	50.0%	48 (19.0%)	82 (32.5%)	108 (42.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (5.6%)	$16,381			$3,412			$12,969	53.9	31.2	898	356
172870004967	543	North Boone Middle School	Public	7-8	17641 Poplar Grove Rd	Poplar Grove	61065	Boone County	North Boone CUSD 200	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 765-9274	250	18	14.1	46.8%	148 (59.2%)	5 (2.0%)	73 (29.2%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (8.8%)	$16,381			$930			$15,451	53.8	46.1	663	120
173174004935	544	Drauden Point Middle School	Public	6-8	1911 Drauden Rd	Plainfield	60586	Will County	Plainfield School District 202	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 577-4900	672	50	13.5	43.6%	287 (42.7%)	131 (19.5%)	202 (30.1%)	14 (2.1%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	34 (5.1%)	$15,471			$1,147			$14,325	53.8	53.2	544
170558000229	545	Belle Valley School	Public	PK, KG-8	2465 Amann Dr	Belleville	62220	St. Clair County	Belle Valley School District 119	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 236-5200	977	82	11.9	82.2%	196 (20.1%)	596 (61.0%)	39 (4.0%)	13 (1.3%)	6 (0.6%)	3 (0.3%)	124 (12.7%)	$13,639			$2,657			$10,982	53.7	61.3	431	114
170993000794	546	Goethe Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2236 N Rockwell St	Chicago	60647	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-4135	731	51	14.3	48.0%	154 (21.1%)	47 (6.4%)	471 (64.4%)	17 (2.3%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (5.2%)	$17,088			$2,955			$14,132	53.7	42.5	723	177
170993000870	547	Jamieson Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5650 N Mozart St	Chicago	60659	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-2395	824	55	14.9	72.6%	194 (23.5%)	63 (7.6%)	302 (36.7%)	242 (29.4%)	5 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (2.2%)	$16,578			$2,536			$14,041	53.7	60.4	438	109
172113002392	548	Kings Elementary School	Public	K-8	100 1st St	Kings	61068	Ogle County	Kings Cons School District 144	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 562-7191	76	11	7.2	42.1%	67 (88.2%)	1 (1.3%)	7 (9.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.3%)	$18,179			$1,819			$16,360	53.6			(n/a)
170138705901	549	Western Junior High School	Public	6-8	300 Chaney St	Kinderhook	62345	Pike County	Western CUSD 12	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 432-8324	148	15	10.1	55.4%	141 (95.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.4%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.7%)	$14,450			$185			$14,265	53.5	55.4	513	36
173432003519	550	Rochester Junior High School	Public	7-8	3 Rocket Dr	Rochester	62563	Sangamon County	Rochester CUSD 3A	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	(217) 498-9761	296	22	13.4		265 (89.5%)	11 (3.7%)	3 (1.0%)	4 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (4.4%)	$11,668			$428			$11,240	53.5	52.4	564	14

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Illinois

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for IL student subgroups:

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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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.